The Art of Lying
by cattyk8
Summary: Lilly, Duncan, Logan and Veronica, reigning 09ers of Neptune High, all have secrets they want to hide, secrets that could ruin lives and reputations. But the Fab Four are soldiers fighting to protect their town's innocents from the corruption that pervades it. And Veronica Mars is their general. AU of season 1 from pre-series.
1. Rise of the Fab Four

**The Art of Lying**

SUMMARY:

Lilly, Duncan, Logan and Veronica, reigning 09ers of Neptune High, all have secrets they want to hide, secrets that could ruin lives and reputations. But the Fab Four are soldiers fighting to protect their town's innocents from the corruption that pervades it. And Veronica Mars is their general. AU of season 1 from pre-series.

* * *

AUTHOR'S NOTE:

As with all fan fiction, I own nothing. I've played fast and loose with Season 1 events, so if you're looking for something that lines up against the episodes, this might not be for you.

Unlike my previous fic, this story is not completely written, but it's outlined. I'm targeting a posting schedule around the 10th, 20th, and 30th of each month, give or take a day or so. Thanks in advance for reading! And special thanks to Irma66, for catching my shortcomings before I display them to the world.

* * *

 **Chapter 1: Rise of the Fab Four**

SUMMARY: Four 09ers make a pact after a night of discovering the skeletons in their own (and each other's) family closets.

* * *

The Fab Four came into being the night after Lilly Kane's fifteenth birthday. Although Duncan Kane and Logan Echolls had been best friends since kindergarten and Lilly and Veronica Veronica had been much the same, they'd only started hanging out the year before, usually boys' and girls' groups that occasionally mingled at events like birthday parties and other 09er get-togethers.

Lilly's birthday was one such event, of course. Jake Kane had started his software company in his parents' pool house, revolutionizing streaming video and, within a few years, turning the beachside town into one of _the_ places to live for the haves—as well as their have-not employees.

The Kanes were the undisputed ruling family of Neptune. Which made Lilly its princess, so of course everyone had angled for an invite to her party.

That an invite went to Logan Echolls, who was Duncan's best friend and the son of two movie stars who just happened to be friends with the Kanes, was a foregone conclusion.

Veronica Mars was also an instant invite, thanks to her best friend status with the birthday girl and the fact that her father's company, Mars Investigations and Security—MIS—was one of the top security firms in the country, and Keith Mars was on the speed dial of CEOs of Fortune 500 companies as well as the President's chief of staff.

The party included an elaborate setup and a mini concert by an up-and-coming pop group. After everyone else left, though, it was just the four of them. Logan and Duncan had settled into pummeling each other at a video game when Lilly bounced in, giggling, with a pilfered bottle of her father's scotch in one hand and Veronica Mars by the wrist in the other.

"Let's play a game of truth or dare," she sang out.

"Do we have to?" Veronica asked.

"Of course we do, Veronica Mars. It's my birthday, so you have to do what I say."

"All right," Veronica agreed, surprising Logan, who wasn't used to the small blond acquiescing to Lilly's plans without at least a sassy comment or an eye roll, at least when it was just the four of them.

While most of Neptune thought Veronica was nothing more than Lilly's lackey and occasional live dress-up doll, he'd come to appreciate the way she always had a comeback for any comment her wilder best friend could make.

"No token resistance, Mars? We must be corrupting you." He smirked.

"Birthday rules, doofus," she said.

But the mention of resistance must have reminded Duncan of his hitherto unexercised backbone. "I don't think Mom will like—"

"Oh, shut it, Donut," Lilly said. "Like Celeste likes anything that has to do with me anyway." There was something cold in her eyes as she said it, and though her tone remained light, her smile was sharp and full of teeth. "In fact, the only person she disapproves of more than me is Veronica here. So I say screw her, and let's play."

Logan gave her a similarly sharklike smile and reached for the bottle. "So who goes first then?"

* * *

An hour later, thanks to the fact that they were playing with Lilly, all four teenagers were well on their way to being sloshed when Duncan, who'd been sticking to truths all night, actually took a dare. His sister was quick to jump on the opportunity.

"Duncan, I dare you to kiss Veronica. With tongue."

"Oh my god, Lilly!" Veronica screwed her face up and turned an even darker shade of red than the alcohol she'd consumed would warrant.

"Well, that's what the two of you get for sticking to truths all night, Ronica!"

"Can I take a drink?"

"It's not your dare to drink for, and Duncan drank the past three turns so he's not allowed to drink again."

"Fine!"

And just as Duncan leant over and kissed Veronica while Lilly and Logan laughed and hooted, the door behind them opened to reveal the shocked faces of Jake and Celeste Kane.

"Duncan, get away from her now!" Celeste's voice all but dripped icicles. "Veronica, I think it's time you went home."

"God, Celeste, we were only playing truth or dare," Lilly said, bored. She turned pleading eyes on her father. "Daddy, don't you remember? Veronica's spending the night cause her parents are out of town."

"Maybe she could just take Veronica to her room, Celeste."

"No, I want her out of her tonight. And she will never be allowed back in this house ever again."

Veronica's eyes filled with tears. "Mrs. Kane, nothing was going to happen."

"And nothing will. The very idea is disgusting."

"God, Celeste, take a chill pill," Lilly said loudly. "All they did was kiss."

"That's bad enough."

"Celeste—"

"No, Jake, you will call that whore and tell her to take her daughter home tonight."

"Mom—"

"Duncan, you will be quiet."

"My mother is not a whore." Veronica's tears had vanished, the confusion and hurt of moments before wiped out by fury.

Finally, Jake spoke up. "Celeste—"

"Well, she is _your_ whore, isn't she?"

"Shut up, Celeste." Jake turned to the four teenagers. "Lilly, take Veronica to your room. Duncan, Logan, stay here." He grabbed his wife's arm and headed for the door, all but dragging Celeste with him.

Moments later, the teenagers heard a door slam and the sounds of the adults screaming at each other.

"What the hell was that?" Logan asked. "It sounded like—"

"It sounded like my mom is sleeping with Lilly and Duncan's dad," Veronica said bitterly.

Lilly stood up from where she was sitting and made a show of dusting herself off. "Well, I'm going to find out." At the door, she looked back at them. "Coming?"

* * *

Listening to the Kanes fight that night, the teenagers learned a few of the many secrets that would change their lives.

The first secret they learned was that Veronica Mars was the illegitimate daughter of Jake Kane by an on-again, off-again affair he'd been having with Lianne Mars, nee Reynolds, since they'd been high school sweethearts. In fact, Lianne wasn't out of town that night, as the teenagers had believed. She was at a hotel suite, waiting for her lover to arrive.

What enraged the foursome was learning that, while Jake and Lianne had always known it was possible that Veronica was biologically the billionaire's daughter, they had never sought confirmation. Instead, it was Celeste who had had tests run in secret.

Any hope Veronica had harbored that it was all a big mistake or a pack of lies disintegrated when, two weeks later, three separate DNA tests from independent labs proved she, Lilly, and Duncan were indeed siblings.

The second secret blown wide open that night was that Duncan Kane, mild-mannered heir to the Kane billions, was an epileptic prone to rage attacks that could be triggered by intense emotions. Emotions such as shock that the girl he'd been crushing on for the past couple of years was actually his sister.

And while his condition was a secret Lilly had already been privy to, she was no less shocked than Logan and Veronica when her brother went from eavesdropping on their parents' fight to rushing in and attacking their father. Logan, after a moment of shock, had had to leap forward to pry Duncan's hands from around Jake's neck.

The third secret was revealed after they had gotten Duncan, who had suddenly snapped out of his rage to go limp and pliant, back to his room. Logan had been unsure of what to do for his friend, and Lilly had taken his hand and led him to her own room. Veronica had trailed behind them through the dim hallway.

But when Lilly had flipped the switch in her bedroom, she'd looked up and gasped to see blood staining the back of his shirt. Both girls had made him take off his shirt and had been horrified by the bruises on his torso, the cuts on his back.

While Lilly held his hand and Veronica doctored the cuts that had split open as best she could using the first aid kit Lilly had retrieved, Logan shared another dark secret few in Neptune would have guessed: that Oscar-winning actor Aaron Echolls beat his son on a regular basis.

The night of Lilly Kane's fifteenth birthday, she, Logan Echolls, and Veronica Mars made a pact, one they brought Duncan into the very next day. It was a pact borne of their disappointment in their parents and determination not to become them.

So the Fab Four made it their mission to keep each other's secrets and keep each other safe, as much as they were able. And to find out any other secrets that had the potential to hurt them.

It didn't take long to learn that towns like Neptune are built on secrets. And it didn't take long for their mission of survival to turn into a crusade.


	2. Battle Plans

**Chapter 2: Battle Plans**

SUMMARY: School's about to start, and the Fab Four is looking to expand their operations and thinking about the legacy they'll be leaving when they graduate.

* * *

 **Two Years Later**

"We're back at school in two weeks," Duncan said. The four teenagers were lazing around the pool at the Kane house. He and Lilly had just gotten back from spending the summer in Napa with their grandparents.

"'Once more unto the breach,'" Logan said with a groan, throwing his hand up over his eyes.

"Oh, stop being such Debbie downers! We're the Fab Four! We rule the school!"

"You and Logan rule the school, Lilly," Veronica reminded her. "With Duncan's help."

"But you rule us, Veronica Mars, even if nobody knows it!" Lilly said with a laugh. "Can you believe how Neptune High would react if they knew the power behind the thrones of the king and queen of the 09ers was none other than pink, perfect Veronica Mars?"

It was true. While everyone else at school thought of Veronica as nothing more than Lilly's shadow and handmaiden, the truth was that she was the undisputed ringleader of their little group. She'd learned about power plays at her father's knee, and the sweet, naïve façade she maintained hid a razor-edged intelligence and wit only a few really got to see.

The Fab Four played the long game, thanks to Veronica's input. It didn't hurt that she, Lilly, and Logan were excellent actors and manipulators. And they worked well together.

If Veronica was the brains of the operation, Lilly was very much its heart—all fire and flirtiness and fun. Logan was their strength and their armor, and together they protected Duncan, who despite his condition and general tendency toward laidback affability was under enormous pressure from his parents, who wanted him in Congress by the time he hit 30.

Over the past two years, the Fab Four had drawn other kids into their circle of protection, but usually without the people they helped realizing the extent or nature of the foursome's machinations.

"Speaking of our little secret society, what's the game plan for this year?" Logan asked, coming over to the lounger Veronica was lying on and nudging her over so he stretched out next to her, hands behind his head. "I'm not spending another year as Lilly's plaything."

"Can't stand the heat, lovah?" Lilly taunted him with a grin.

"More like, it no longer serves me to have a reputation for having handed my balls into your less-than-delicate safekeeping," he retorted with mock resentment, making both girls laugh.

This, too, was another of the best-kept secrets of Neptune High. When they'd started high school, it had been strategic for Logan to enter it as Lilly's boyfriend. The couple had maintained a very public, very tempestuous on-again, off-again relationship, unsurprising given Logan's excellent impression of a psychotic jackass and Lilly's innate wild child personality.

But the truth was, their actual relationship had fizzled out within months, after which they'd never been more than friends with very occasional benefits.

"Well, it's not like I've got nothing better to do than stroke your ego, either," Lilly announced. "But can I just say you two crazy kids should totally hook up!"

None of the 09ers who flocked around the Fab Four would believe it, but Lilly had long been what she called a "LoVe shipper," which contrasted sharply with Duncan's rather obvious disapproval.

Duncan had even taken Logan aside one day to give him the obligatory "don't mess with my sister" talk, which Veronica and Lilly had laughingly interrupted since it wasn't as if Logan hadn't done more with Duncan's other sister over the past two years.

"Please don't," Duncan grumbled. "I mean, come on, man! Can't you move on from your dysfunctional relationship with my sister with someone other than my other sister?"

Logan pretended to think about it for a long moment, an expression of exaggerated deliberation on his face. "Nope," he said finally, popping the "P" at the end. "Not if Veronica will have me." He gave the blond in question an exaggerated leer.

Veronica rolled her eyes at him. "Please, I have standards."

"I can attest that Logan is sure to satisfy," Lilly singsonged. "He can totally list me down as a reference on his sexual resume."

"Pretty sure I've already heard your recommendation, Miss Kiss-and-Tell," Veronica replied, scrunching up her nose.

"Seriously, man? My sisters?"

"The Kane charm gets Logan every time." Lilly giggled.

"Shut up, Lilly!"

"Try and make me, Donut!"

"Argh!"

"Duncan, chill," Veronica snapped.

Lilly's laughter erupted in earnest. "Did you just… order… our brother around… like a dog?" she gasped, making Logan laugh as well, recognizing the command Veronica often had to use with the somewhat overprotective pit bull her father had gifted her with a year before.

"Sorry, big brother." Veronica offered him a conciliatory smile.

"Whatever," Duncan replied, still grumpy. "He hurts you, I'll end him."

"Like you could take me," Logan scoffed. "Let's face it, Golden Boy, you're a lover, not a fighter."

"I could make an exception." Duncan paused. "On second thought, I'll just shut up. We both know that in a fight, Veronica could bring on far more pain than either of us combined."

Logan pointed his index finger at his friend and cocked his thumb like the safety on a gun. "Point." He grinned, making the others grin in turn.

Keith Mars had insisted his daughter train in martial arts from the age of eight. The tiny blonde had won her brown belt in Krav Maga just that summer. In fact, she'd started teaching Logan some moves in the time they'd spent together, as part of their long-term plan to get Aaron to back off.

The Fab Four had had to adjust their game plan when it came to Aaron Echolls several times over the past two years, mostly because they had uncovered a number of the actor's connections to both the local Irish mafia and the biggest Russian crime syndicate on the west coast.

"I am so glad to hear that _if_ Logan and I were ever to hook up, you boys both would be well aware that I can take care of myself." Veronica pouted at them, making both boys grin back at her.

"So what's cooking as far as your plans for the year go, Ronica?" Lilly asked, then made a face. "And please don't tell me I have to endure another year of 'Sweet Veronica' from you. If you do, I won't let you hold me back whenever Madison Sinclair and her team of skanks start talking shit about you. You _promised_ you'd come out and rule the school with me this year. No backsies."

"When have you ever known me to break my promises, Lilly?" Veronica asked idly. "I think we've solidified our power base as the Fab Four now that we're all upper classmen. And since you're a senior, I'm going to have to be a little more hands-on this year."

"Look at you going all gloves off," Logan teased, tugging at her hair in a way that had her swatting at his hand.

"Aww, I'll still let you do most of the punchin', Logie," she cooed sarcastically. Then she sobered. "Seriously, though, we have a few situations I want to deal with when we get back to school that may take some… finessing. And they may prove an excellent opportunity to test drive some of the people I'm thinking of recruiting to our cause."

"What's up?" Duncan asked, frowning.

"I heard Casey Gant ran off and joined a cult and spends his evenings chowing down on s'mores and kum ba yah-ing it with a bunch of hippies," Veronica said casually, then grinned when three sets of eyes widened, and the others gaped at her. When none of them offered any commentary, she added, "Although never let it be said I don't get the appeal of s'mores made over a real bonfire."

Duncan unhinged his jaw. "Casey Gant, who's as big an asshole as Logan?"

"I resemble that remark," Logan said, smirking. "I am the biggest asshole in the land. I work hard to be."

"You definitely do," Veronica said, smiling and patting his shoulder reassuringly. "Cock of the Walk for 29 episodes running." Logan's efforts at acting the jackass had earned him the title from whoever ran the Ahoy Mateys podcast at Neptune High.

"What does Darcy say about it?" Lilly asked, mentioning the 09er senior's girlfriend for most of the previous year.

"Don't know," Veronica said. "I thought maybe you could ask her. You know her better than I do, and you have a better rep for gossiping. What I do know is he sold his car for cash and gave it all to this Mooncalf Collective. And that Miss Mills is hooking up with the collective's head honcho."

"Miss Mills who runs the literary magazine?" Logan frowned.

"Yep. So do you want to take care of writing emo poetry and submitting it to that illustrious school publication or should I?"

"Hmm, let me think." He smirked. "Naw, I don't think it'd be good for my rep if it ever got out that I wrote emo poetry."

"You got that right, lovah. Emo, yes. Poetry, no. Although think what fun I would have if you did!"

"Fine," Veronica huffed. "I'll do it. You're helping me write it, though. You know I don't do 'pretty turns of phrase' the way you do, Logan."

"I don't mind talking to Darcy," Lilly said, "as long as we get her separated from the skanks."

"Did you say he sold his car?" Duncan asked. "The sweet little Porsche he was lording over us all of last year?"

"Okay, yeah, something's definitely up with him," Logan said. "He loved that car." Duncan hummed his agreement.

"Anything else?" Lilly asked.

"Rumor has it Luke Haldeman's personal trainer got him on juice," Logan said.

"Idiot." Duncan sneered. He was captain of the soccer team and had definite ideas about steroids.

"He's a nice idiot, though," Lilly said. "Spineless but mostly sweet."

"So he's our idiot to protect," Veronica said. The others nodded. "The trainer's name is Hank Zigman, and he has a rep for using his clients to traffic steroids from Mexico."

"Speaking of drug traffickers, I got a call from Troy Vandergraff a couple days ago," Duncan said casually.

Logan stiffened. "You mean that asshole who's always all over Veronica when his family brings their boat round for the summer?"

"He's cute, for an asshole," Lilly said thoughtfully. Logan bristled.

"He's cheesy, and he's a felon," Veronica corrected her, patting Logan's leg placatingly. "Settle down, boy. I'm on to him."

"We'll keep an eye on him," Logan said darkly.

"Good idea," Veronica said. "He might prove useful with the Luke situation."

"I'll take care of it," Duncan said.

"Logan will help."

"I will?"

"Yep. Next time you and Lilly break up, you can date Caitlyn Ford. She and Troy hooked up a few times at the marina over the past couple of summers."

Logan brought his head up abruptly. "Ugh, no. No way. I'm not getting within five feet of that."

"I actually agree with Logan on this one," Lilly said. "The only way he could set the bar lower would be if he dated Madison."

"A mild flirtation, then?" Veronica wheedled. Logan shook his head. "Fine, how about basic tolerance?"

Lilly laughed. "That's probably as much encouragement as she needs."

"Why can't Duncan do it?" Logan whined.

"Because Duncan's gearing himself up to ask Meg Manning to be his one true love."

This proclamation was met with a yelp from the girls' brother. "I—what—how did you know?"

"Oh, please, you made Bambi eyes at her all of last year when you thought no one was looking, even while you were dating Shelly Pomroy. And I have it on good authority that she and Cole broke up over the summer."

Lilly laughed. "Of course Donut would fall for a real-life Disney princess."

"They'll be the prince and princess of Neptune High. Woodland animals will braid their hair and provide them with an appropriate soundtrack." Logan smirked.

Duncan snorted. "Hey, does that make Lilly the evil queen?"

"So if I'm the evil queen and Logan's the king of the 09ers, who will you be, Veronica Mars?"

"Slutty concubine?" Veronica smirked. "Nah, I think rebel leader works for me."

Logan's eyes darkened. They'd spent the summer talking about possible scenarios for the drama they planned to enact to put their various plans in motion, and the one she was about to propose was his least favorite. "Ronnie—"

"I think it's time we shook things up," Veronica interrupted him. "Add a little drama. After all, we're in high school and we're teenagers. It's kind of what we're supposed to be doing"

"You know I'm always game for a little drama," Lilly announced.

Veronica pressed the fingertips of both hands together. "Excellent," she said, grinning. Then she proceeded to lay out what she had in mind for the next few weeks.

* * *

Veronica was putting the final touches on her makeup when her phone rang with the opening notes of Beyonce's "Crazy in Love"—Lilly's ring tone. Rather than answer, she killed the call and headed out the gate to where the familiar blue Mercedes SUV was waiting, the Kanes and Logan already inside.

"Are you sure about this, Ronica?" Lilly asked when Veronica climbed into the back seat beside Logan. That she hadn't said anything about Veronica's outfit for the evening and gone straight to business told Veronica how unsettled the other girl still was about the plan she'd outlined earlier. "I mean, it seems a little extreme."

"Lilly Kane, are you honestly telling me you're in favor of playing it safe?"

"Only for you, Veronica Mars, only for you."

"Also, the idea of spending the next few weeks with Madison Sinclair as a placeholder bestie is the stuff of horror flicks," Logan observed.

Lilly shuddered dramatically. "I'm really not sure I won't go all slasher on her before a week's out."

"I'll make it up to you," Veronica promised.

"Shopping tomorrow?"

"Well, if Logan's breaking up with you tonight and you and I are breaking up as besties tomorrow, I guess tomorrow afternoon's our only option."

"We can choose your new badass wardrobe!"

Veronica shook her head. "No can do, Lils. We can window shop for me, maybe, but tomorrow's all for you. My going shopping before we have our big falling out doesn't support the narrative. I'll take Meg with me so I can talk Duncan up with her."

"Screw the narrative," Lilly said, pouting.

The others laughed. Shortly after they had formed their little alliance, Veronica had persuaded them on the importance of what she called "the narrative," meaning the believable story to sell to the public. When it came to building what they'd privately nicknamed the Legend of the Fab Four, this had included the images they projected and the dramas they enacted.

Mostly they had stuck to their basic personalities, with the exception of Logan, who'd had to cultivate a "son of two movie stars" image his father would appreciate that contrasted sharply with his essentially introspective nature.

Duncan wasn't just projecting an all-American boy persona; he lived and breathed it.

Meanwhile, Lilly was happy to self-indulge and hide the fact that she had an almost superhuman talent for ferreting out secrets and pushing people's buttons.

Of the four of them, Veronica was the best actress, able to pick up and discard personas at the drop of a hat. For the most part, she had chosen to be relegated to the sidelines—as she'd explained to them, it meant she was more likely to hear the gossip people wouldn't tell someone whose last name was Kane or Echolls.

She'd also cultivated a reputation for helping people out of jams, by virtue of being every teacher's and parents' favorite Neptune High honor student, and this year she had plans to ramp things up by showcasing the investigative skills she'd learned from working with her dad.

"Neptune thinks I'm Elizabeth Wakefield," she'd told the Fab Four, "but what they don't know is I'm Nancy Drew."

"More like Sydney Bristow," Logan had corrected her, and both Duncan and Lilly had laughingly agreed.

As Veronica had explained that afternoon, their back-to-school narrative was simple. Tonight, Logan would catch Lilly kissing another guy and break up with her loudly and publicly, to which the Kane heiress would respond by accusing him of hooking up with an army of skanks over the summer.

Then tomorrow Lilly would go to Madison Sinclair's start-of-year party and whine about Logan being unreasonable. Logan would claim his own audience at the same party and publicly denounce Lilly as a heartless bitch. Veronica would lose her temper and declare them both badly behaved children, at which point, Lilly would oust her from her hallowed spot on the 09er "royal court."

Come Monday, Lilly would make it clear that Veronica was persona non grata, Logan would be vocally resentful of both blondes, and Veronica would retaliate with remarks about being sick of acting like the Fab Four's little pawn.

"I don't see why we can't go shopping together," Lilly whined. "Meg wouldn't know a badass outfit if it crawled inside her hoochie and bit her."

"Hey," Veronica said, censure evident in her tone. "Meg may be the pastel princess as far as her own wardrobe is concerned, but she likes to live vicariously through you—and now me—when it comes to fashion. In fact, since my new look will basically be the anti-Meg, she's the perfect shopping buddy."

"Veronica Mars, you should know that picking the person who knows nothing about how you want to look is not really how shopping buddies work."

"Whatever, Lils. _I_ know how I want to look, but Meg would be good company since I can't have you. Plus, may I remind you that, as long as we sell this narrative properly, we'll be able to settle into a more comfortable rhythm without pretending to be completely different people. We'll also get to make friends with non-09ers, which I've been saying we need to do for a while now. We could use a little help with our projects, especially since Duncan and I are in a lot of AP classes this year."

"Who did you have in mind?" Duncan asked.

"Among the non-09ers, there are those kids who run the Ahoy Mateys podcast. They seem pretty dialed in, if a bit ragey. And you know I've always wanted to get my claws into Cindy Mackenzie."

"Switched-at-birth Madison Sinclair." Lilly nodded. "I wonder if she knows."

"She goes by Mac, I think," Logan said. "She's pretty cool."

"I think Dick has a thing for her," Veronica said. "Not sure how that would work out, but it's something."

"Dick Casablancas?" Logan goggled at her. "My Dick?" He groaned when the three Kane siblings started giggling. "You know what I mean."

"He calls her Ghostworld," Veronica said. "Which means he's noticed her, which can't be said for any other non-09er girl, even the ones he's banged."

"Hmm."

"Then there's Eli Navarro."

Logan choked on something, probably his own saliva. "Weevil? You want to bring the head of the PCH biker gang in? What have you been smoking?"

Veronica frowned. "He's smart, street-smart. And petty criminal offenses aside, he's a good guy."

"I can tell you about some of the things he's good at," Lilly said. "Boy has magic hands. And a magic tongue."

Duncan winced. "TMI, sis."

Logan sent a sneer in Lilly's direction but was quick to refocus on Veronica. "How do you figure he's a good guy? He's forever picking fights with people for some bullshit alpha dog reason. He sees the inside of the sheriff's holding cell and interrogation room at least a couple times a month. Tell me how that guy is a guy you think we can trust."

Veronica's chin lifted stubbornly. "He takes care of his niece Ofelia when Letty—you know, your housekeeper who keeps us in tamales and chocolate chip cookies?—can't and a sitter isn't available. The money he gets from working at his uncle's auto shop goes to his grandmother and to pay for Ofelia's school supplies. He's got a sense of honor."

"So he kept his boys from messing with you last year the way they did with virtually every other 09er," Logan said, waving a hand dismissively. "Big deal."

"Big deal is that he did it because I helped him with something he cared about," Veronica countered. "Eli's a guy who's all about checks and balances, and he doesn't like being indebted to someone."

Logan shrugged. "Who does?"

"My point," she said patiently, "is that it shouldn't be difficult for us to enter into a sort of quid-pro-quo arrangement with him. Or, more specifically, for me to engage him in a favor-bartering sort of friendship. It could prove useful."

Logan scowls. "Fine. But why you? Why not one of the rest of us?"

"Because the PCHers think Lilly's just a hot piece of ass and won't respect her," Veronica said succinctly. "Because he hates your guts and you never fail to be rude to him. Because Duncan's too morally upright to be able to deliver on most of the stuff he's likely to need. Because we've already bartered a bit, and have a kind of truce between us."

"I wouldn't discount the benefits of being a hot piece of ass," Lilly said, tapping her chin with one finger thoughtfully. "Although I do kinda see where your skills would be better here than mine."

"I've got a few more people I've been eyeing, but I'll tell you guys more later, once I check on a few things. This plan of ours will give us a better idea of which 09ers and non-09ers have potential, and which ones will simply follow the party line. Now, drive us to the party so you can get wasted and break up with your boyfriend."

"Yes, ma'am," Lilly drawled, making them laugh again as she turned on the engine and headed out. "Hey, Ronica?" she said after they'd driven in silence for a couple of minutes.

"Yes, Lilly?"

"You ever get tired of being a lying, manipulative bitch?"

Logan stiffened, and even in the dim light of the car the fury was evident on his face. Veronica patted his arm, then squeezed it warningly when his mouth dropped open to deliver a harsh retort. She just sighed.

"Pretty much all the time, Lils."

Lilly frowned, her eyes meeting Veronica's in the rearview mirror. "So why do it? I mean, I love the fabulous badass that is you. But couldn't we have found a better way to make everything work?"

"Easier, probably. But better?" Veronica let that question hang in the suddenly tense air of darkened car for a moment. "I don't think so. We're at war. And you know what they say, 'All warfare is based on deception.' We are, or we try to be, the good guys. That means making sacrifices, playing the game."

"We're only teenagers," Lilly said softly. "Life shouldn't be so complicated."

"We're the byproducts of our parents' royal fuckups," Logan said harshly. "It's not our fault things are complicated."

"I know, I know," Lilly said, slumping in the driver's seat in a rare show of vulnerability. Duncan reached over to squeeze her shoulder comfortingly.

"It's not forever, Lils," Veronica said softly. "And you'll be out of it before the rest of us are."

"I'm just worried about leaving you guys, you know? But also I miss not giving a shit."

Veronica laughed. "So do we all. And we'll be fine. I think this bit of drama is the last big one we'll have to stage. It's more a coming out, really. If we work things right, by this time next year, you'll be living la vida loca at Vassar, Logan will be in his mom's sole custody or an emancipated minor, and most of our friends will be safe from the worst of their own parents' secrets."

"That sounds good," Lilly said. The rest of the Fab Four agreed.

"So the faster we get these wheels moving, the faster we'll get to where we wanna be, right?"

"You said it," Logan said, reaching over and pulling Veronica into a one-armed hug. "So, Miss Lilly Kane, ready to break up with me for the last time?"

Lilly's mouth quirked up in a smile. "I am so, so ready for you to be my ex-boyfriend."

"That'll leave you free to hook up with Weevil tomorrow night before you have to go to Madison's party for our big breakup scene," Veronica reminded her.

"Weevil? You're dating Weevil?" Duncan asked, his voice going up an octave in shock.

Lilly shrugged. "He's pretty, and you know what they say about men who ride bikes."

"Why didn't I know about this?" He turned to Veronica. "How did you know about this?"

"How does Ronnie know about anything?" Logan grinned. "Seriously, though, do we really have to spend the next few weeks ignoring you?"

"No," Veronica said firmly. "You and Lilly will spend the next few weeks calling me a bitch, letting the air out of my tires, and knocking my books to the ground when you pass me in the hallway. Lilly, you'll probably need to flush my clothes in gym class at least once, although I'm sure Madison would be happy to do it for you. You've got a reputation to protect, and I've got one to create."

"But Ronica—"

"No buts," Veronica said. "I'll have a few choice pranks in store for the two of you, so don't you worry."

"Ronnie—"

"No chickening out, Echolls," she snapped, although she grinned as she said it. "Come Monday, we'll be playing War, and I'll expect you to provide me with at least a few entertaining skirmishes."

"And me?" Duncan asked. "Where will I be in all of this?"

"If you're going to win Saint Meg over, you'll need to be Switzerland in this, Duncan," Veronica reminded him. "Don't sweat it. A few half-hearted 'come on, guys' and 'shut up, man' comments, and you're good. I'll probably get a few strikes in, but you be the duck whose back water slides right off of."

"So you'd have me stand idly by while one of my best friends gets ostracized?"

"Them's the breaks," she declared. "So, Lilly, Logan, what do you say we have a little fun, fun, fun in our game of war?"

Logan sighed as Lilly pulled into a parking slot down the road from the Casablancas place. "'We shall fight on the beaches, we shall fight on the landing grounds…'"

Veronica patted his cheek. "Good boy."

"There you go again, treating your friends like loyal dogs."

Veronica laughed at his petulant tone. Then she sobered. "Just remember—don't do anything that'll get you suspended or your parents called in. And you can still call Lilly or me or come over anytime you need to."

"Will do," he said softly, kissing her on the cheek.

Lilly killed the engine and turned to them with a brilliant smile. "All right. Let's get this party started."

* * *

 **A/N:** Thanks for reading! The next update is scheduled for October 10, 2018.


	3. Players Gonna Play

**Chapter 3: Players Gonna Play**

SUMMARY: The Fab Four put their temporary breakup plan into action.

* * *

The night ended in a wash of alcohol. As had been previously arranged, Veronica drove Lilly and Duncan home while Logan stayed overnight with the Casablancas brothers, whose parents were away for the week. In the morning, Lilly posted pics of herself and Veronica indulging in a little "ice cream therapy," in which Veronica made it a point to appear less-than-pleased in some of the photos.

They hit the mall in the afternoon, window-shopping for Veronica and actually shopping for Lilly. The two girls got ready for Madison's party in Lilly's room.

"How long am I going to have to make do without my best friend?" Lilly mourned as she curled Veronica's hair for her. "I mean, I get why your plan is _the_ plan, but I'm gonna be seriously deprived on sister love until we can have our big makeup scene."

"It's high school, which means everyone has short attention spans," Veronica said with a smile.

Lilly frowned. "If that was supposed to be comforting, Veronica Mars, I've got news for you: it's not."

Veronica sighed. "Fine. We can do a month, six weeks tops of outright hostility—you more than Logan, I think. Duncan will probably just have to look awkward and apologetic most of the time. Then you and Logan can see the error of your ways and work on making it up to me. I shall hold out because I'm no longer a pushover, then I can forgive you before Thanksgiving because my heart is soft like a marshmallow despite my crusty exterior."

"You are the most manipulative marshmallow in the history of marshmallows, Ronica," Lilly declared with a laugh. "I love you for it, but damn, if the world only knew!"

"They will someday. Or maybe we'll have cleaned up Neptune with no one having any idea how we did it. Which could be fun too." Veronica looked serious for a moment, then grinned at her sister. "So how about you help me pretty up in Pink!Veronica fashion for the last time, huh?"

"It would be my honor, Miss Mars-mallow!"

* * *

"You're a faithless bitch, Lilly Kane!" Logan raged just a couple of hours later. He was towering over his ex-girlfriend, pretending to strain against John Enbom and Dick Casablancas as they put genuine effort into holding him back.

"You're a jealous son of a bitch who thinks he's all that because his daddy has an Oscar or two," Lilly sneered back, tossing off Duncan's restraining hand. "Well, you couldn't find a woman's clit without a map or give her an orgasm without a tutorial."

"Okay, _enough_!" Veronica's voice was cold and hard-edged. The teenagers present were so shocked by the outburst from the normally too-nice-for-her-own-good girl everyone dismissed as Lilly's little shadow that everyone fell quiet. Or maybe it was the fact that the tiny blonde had stepped between her two friends who just so happened to be the king and queen of the 09ers—and shut them up immediately.

"Ronica, stay out of this," Lilly warned her. If anyone noticed her eyes were sparkling, they probably figured that glint was annoyance or even anger.

"No," Veronica said, voice still steely, eyes blazing, face resolute. "You did a really shitty thing, Lilly Kane. And you hurt one of my best friends doing it."

"Yeah, Lilly," Logan said, crossing his arms and smirking, his voice smug. "Even Ronnie thinks you're a shit."

"That is _not_ what I said, and you know it, Logan Echolls," Veronica seethed, whirling to face him. She jabbed a finger in his chest. "And it's not like you behaved much better. What do you think would happen if it got back to your dad that you were talking to Lilly like that? You should've just walked away."

Logan's face was grim at her words. "Who do you think you are, lecturing me on how to behave? You're not my goddamn—"

"What?" Veronica challenged, stepping right into his face. "Your goddamn friend? Well maybe you don't think so, but I'm friend enough to tell you when you need to stop being the obligatory psychotic jackass of this scenario. You're better than this, Logan. _Be better_." She turned back to the green-eyed blonde behind her. "And that goes for you too, Lilly."

Duncan stepped in now, completing the foursome. The other teens present seemed to wilt in relief, believing the Kane heir would diffuse the fraught atmosphere. Little did they know it was just what Veronica was waiting for. "Veronica, I think we should maybe all just chill out and—"

"And what, Duncan?" Veronica asked, exasperation in her tone and exhaustion in her face. She waved a hand in Lilly's direction. "This is your sister being callous and spiteful toward Logan." Then she gestured toward Logan. "And this is your best friend being a dick just because he can and toward Lilly specifically. Maybe you need to _stop_ being so 'chill.' Stop doing things your usual way."

"And what's my usual way, Veronica?" Duncan was scowling, and their audience was just starting to realize that nasty things were about to hit the fan.

Veronica smiled, but it wasn't the sort of smile the other Neptune High students were accustomed to seeing on her elfin features. This had none of Veronica's characteristic sweetness. It was the kind of baring of teeth typical of attack dogs ready to strike. "Oh, you know, Duncan. You don't initiate trouble. Or good behavior, for that matter. You don't initiate much of anything, really."

"Don't stop there, Veronica. Say what you really think. So what's my 'usual way' of doing things?"

"You stand idly by," Veronica said, biting out every word. "And you know what? So have I. Well, not anymore. Someone's got to call these guys on their abusive bullshit, and I'm sick of waiting for you or our parents to do it. So this is me, stepping up. You guys can play nice, or you learn I can dish out justice just as well as my daddy can. And I don't need his money to do it, either. That goes for everyone here, not just you three."

She waited until Duncan lowered his eyes, then did the same to Lilly and Logan. "When you guys are ready to grow up, give me a call. Until then, I'm out of here."

She turned her back on all of them and strolled toward the exit—a controlled, fluid, confident movement she had mastered but learned to deny herself in her role as pink-and-perfect Veronica Mars.

When she was almost out of earshot, Lilly—bold, beautiful, bratty Lilly—finally spoke. "What the fuck has gotten into Veronica Mars?" Only the Fab Four heard the note of satisfaction in her voice. The two boys who'd stayed by her no doubt saw the quickly disguised delight in her eyes.

Veronica left Madison Sinclair's party with a grin on her face and an axe on her social status, thanks to the 09er king's and queen's mutual outrage and proclamations of exile.

Things had gone exactly according to plan.

* * *

The following afternoon saw Logan on the waves. He complained loudly and creatively about his ex-girlfriend's traitorous ways and "Goody Two Shoes" Mars bitching him out about being a jackass. His audience—consisting of Dick Casablancas, John Enbom, and Sean Friedrich—supported Logan's feigned fury at both 09er blondes.

Later, on the phone, Logan complained to Veronica about the ease by which his friends had abandoned her to her fate.

She laughed. "It's good to be king."

" _Surprisingly, the only one who even bothered to protest was Dick."_

"Casablancas?" Veronica's surprise was evident, even on the phone. Remembering his comment the night before, she teased, "Your Dick?"

Logan laughed. _"Yeah. He was all like, 'Yeah, but it's Ronnie, man. She's uptight but she's got your back, like she told Lilly off about being a skank. Plus, she's good with the 'rents and the teachers and shit. They, like, love her or something. You love her. You're always hulking out on the guys who hit on her. And she's practically Lilly's little sister and Duncan's twin or something. Plus, she like went up from a four to a ten on the scary hotness scale after last night.'"_

Logan's mimicry of the blond surfer was spot on.

"That's interesting."

" _I for one find it insulting that he thought you were a four."_

Veronica laughed. "He thinks Meg Manning and I are basically the same person. He's in for a rude awakening. But what I meant was that Dick defending me and his assessment of my role in the grand scheme of things was pretty interesting."

" _Whodathunk, huh? I almost choked when he made that comment about you being Lilly and Duncan's sister."_

"He could prove helpful. Especially since he's a gossip queen."

" _I think you're confusing him with Carrie Bishop."_

"I think you're underestimating him. He's pretty observant and insightful, when it comes to people. As he just proved to you."

" _Dick? Are you sure we're talking about the right guy? Most people would say he's not the sharpest knife in the drawer."_

"You and I both know there's different kinds of sharp. And we both appreciate Dick for who he is." Veronica had been friends with Dick since kindergarten, for as long as she had been friends with Lilly, actually. She'd been the one to introduce him to Logan when he'd moved to town the summer before eighth grade.

" _Yeah, we do."_

"So what did you say when he said that about me?"

" _I went all 'Who does she think she is' and stuff. Anyway, I told the guys you were 'out,' but not to mess with you too much, and he backed me on that. Said something about how we didn't know what we were in for if you decided you wanted revenge."_

Veronica laughed. "Dick's a good friend."

" _Mmm-hmm. I'm pretty sure he'd be one of us if he had any inclination toward the cloak-and-dagger stuff."_

"Well, now that we're, ah, expanding our reach and all, I think he might be a great asset."

" _He actually pulled me aside to warn me not to do anything you wouldn't forgive me for."_ Logan laughed. _"And he gave me a suspicious look when I went on my 'Saint Veronica' tirade. I had to assure him that I'd do any pranking myself, and that I'd stick to harmless pranks if I did. Although he gave me free rein if I could prove I 'have the cojones to mess with Lilly Kane on her home turf.'"_

They'd agreed to keep it to the basic prank-and-bullying routine, knowing that the 09er girls would be more vicious than the guys.

"You know I'll get you just as good as you get me." Veronica paused. "Dick knows that. It's time the rest of Neptune High did too."

" _Vindictiveness is hot,"_ he teased.

"Uh huh."

" _Why deny the hotness that is you?"_ he said, adopting Lilly Kane-esque tones.

"Bye, Logan." She hung up on the sound of his laughter.

* * *

Lilly had started to put her part of the plan into motion before she even left the party. It was no secret that many of the 09er girls were perplexed by the Kane heiress's friendship with Veronica Mars, who had never really fit in with the group. And as many of their parents owed their fortunes to investments in Kane Software, they were all eager to take her place as Lilly Kane's best friend and confidante.

Madison Sinclair, the most grasping of the lot, and Shelly Pomroy, who had visions of taking Veronica's spot among the Fab Four by way of seducing one Duncan Kane, were particularly gleeful with each complaint Lilly laid on about Veronica's goody-two-shoes attitude and lack of support and appreciation.

As had happened with Logan, Lilly found the girls all too eager to jump on the "hate Veronica" bandwagon—all except Meg Manning, incidentally.

"Saint Meg's got spine, I'll give her that," Lilly pronounced when she got home, where Veronica had been waiting in the room Jake had unofficially designated as hers. In fact, each of the Fab Four had their own rooms in the Kane mansion—something Jake and Celeste had agreed to in exchange for their silence over that pesky paternity issue.

"I know," Veronica said. "She's one of the last good people at our school. When I ask her if she wants to go shopping tomorrow, I'll warn her she might catch some of the fallout of your kicking me out of the hallowed 09ers group now that I'm not willing to be a mindless follower in the cult of the fabulous Lilly Kane."

"Cult? I think I deserve at least a minor religion," Lilly teased.

"Of course you do, darling. You'd be some kind of sex goddess ala Aphrodite."

Lilly giggled in responds. "You know me so well, Ronica."

"Course I do, secret sistah!" Veronica said, smiling as Lilly broke into full-on laughter. "Anyway, I'm pretty sure how Meg will react."

"How's that?"

"She probably won't do anything splashy, but she'll say something to the effect of wanting to be both your friend and mine."

"Think she'll say she wants world peace too? God, she and Donut are totally made for each other."

"I know, right?" Veronica laughed. "But I think they'd make a sweet couple. If anyone in Neptune High is likely to be good enough for Duncan Kane in the gospel according to Celeste, it's probably gonna be Meg Manning."

"Ugh, I'm gonna need to stock up on toothpaste when they make things official. I'll get cavities otherwise."

"Aww, you'll secretly be cooing over them." Veronica grinned. "Think I don't know how you dote on our mutual brother, O sister of mine?"

"Shh! It's a secret!"

"And like all secrets, this one's safe with me."

* * *

 **A/N:** Thanks for reading! The next update is scheduled for October 20, 2018.


	4. A Change Is Gonna Come

**Chapter 4: A Change Is Gonna Come**

SUMMARY: Veronica strikes out on her own. Her first move? A makeover.

* * *

Lilly insisted on listening in on Veronica's side of the conversation when she invited Meg to go shopping the next morning.

"Sounds like it went exactly as expected," the Kane heiress commented.

"Yep." Veronica popped the P. "But she said something funny."

"I wasn't aware Meg Manning had a sense of humor," Lilly teased.

"She hides it well. Anyway, I didn't mean funny as in haha funny. More like weird. And it wasn't so much what she said as how she said it, but she told me, 'After all, you can't choose your family, so you might as well choose your friends well, and I'm choosing to keep being friends with both of you.' I don't know. There was something in her tone that kind of reminded me of Logan a little."

"Huh. You think—"

"I don't know," Veronica said hastily. "I'm not saying it's anything. But you know how he's always insisting that we're his family instead of the people he's actually related to? She kind of sounded like he does when he talks like that."

"Veronica—"

"I might be imagining things. It's just a weird feeling I got. I know they're kind of religious or something? And strict. But I don't know. Something we should probably look into. I think I'll drop by the sheriff's department sometime next week, ask Don what he knows."

Don Lamb was the sheriff of Balboa County, of which Neptune was a part. He had also been one of Keith Mars's proteges at MIS before deciding to go the political route and running for sheriff. He kept Veronica in the loop about anything from raids on 09er keg parties to locker searches.

He and Veronica traded the occasional favor, and she'd often come to him asking for advice about "hypothetical" situations about which he tried not to ask too many questions.

"I take it you'll start looking into it on your shopping date this afternoon." Lilly's jealousy was obvious. She'd always been possessive about Veronica and her role as best friend—in many ways, Lilly was even more possessive of Veronica than she was about Logan and Duncan.

"Aww, it won't be the same without you, Lils."

"Of course it won't, Veronica Mars! I mean, how could you ever hope to find anyone as fabulous as me? Especially when it comes to shopping!"

"I'm cutting my hair too," Veronica muttered.

"What?! Veronica MARS!"

"That's my name, don't wear it out," Veronica snarked. "Anyway, I'll send you pictures, okay?"

"You'd better! I can't believe you're taking Meg Manning on the shopping trip I've been dying to take you on for years!"

"We can go again after we've made up."

"Don't think I won't hold you to it, Ronica!"

"Far be it for me or any lesser mortal to get in the way of your passion for shopping."

"I'm serious!"

"I know."

"This next couple of months is gonna suck!"

"This will all pay off in the long run."

"It better! I miss you already."

"Aww, we'll still talk every day, Lils."

"But I won't be able to pick you up in the mornings—"

"I'm looking forward to driving my new car anyway." Her dad had bought her a silver Jeep Wrangler—armored, because he was paranoid like that—just that summer.

"And I won't even be talking to you by our lockers between classes—"

"It's our opportunity to make new friends!"

"And you won't be joining us for lunch—"

"People won't talk to me when you're around, Lils, especially non-09ers."

"I know, but I can't believe you're not even joining pep squad this year!"

"I did that for you and the PE credit, and honestly, you've got enough pep for the both of us."

"That's true. I suffer from too much pep."

"Don't I know it."

"But I'll miss you!"

"I'll miss you too, Lils. Now I've got to go to go sneak out so no one knows we're still friends."

"I love you, Veronica Mars."

"I love you too, Lilly Kane."

* * *

Veronica had to admit that cutting off the majority of her waist-length blond hair was a bit scary, but also hugely liberating. She walked out of the salon with a chin-length bob and side swept bangs that had Meg doing a doubletake when she saw it.

"You're going all-out on this image revamp thing," Meg said. "I don't know if I should hold your hand or applaud you."

"The latter, please," Veronica said with a grin. "Besides, I donated my hair so it's for a good cause. And if I'm going to be someone other than 'Lilly's Shadow,' I should look the part, don't you think?"

"You know they don't really mean it when they call you that."

Veronica smiled. "Sure they do, Meg. But they won't call me that for much longer. You'll see."

"I hope you don't take this the wrong way," Meg said, "but I'm really looking forward to the show on Monday morning."

"I'm looking forward to giving it." Veronica smirked.

"The girls are going to be vicious," Meg warned. "Even if Lilly does nothing but ignore you, you know they're not going to miss out on the opportunity to mess with you. And I don't think she'll be ignoring you after last night."

"I'm going to hit back just as hard, if not harder, as they hit me," Veronica said, steel in her tone and flint in her eyes. "So I say, bring it on."

"Who knew Veronica Mars had a scary side?" Meg said, bemused by her friend's new attitude.

"Lilly and Logan and Duncan did," Veronica said. "So they can't say they weren't warned."

"Warned?"

"You mess with the bull, you get the horns."

"I'm pretty sure you're my new hero, Veronica Mars."

"Then let's make sure I'm outfitted properly. First things first—I need boots that'll hold up to a good ass kicking."

Laughing, the girls headed for the mall with singular determination. And no one but Lilly knew that Veronica took photos of each of her outfits in the changing room and sent them to her best friend.

* * *

" _How come Lilly gets photos and I don't?"_

Veronica laughed, lying back in her bed. "You know I can hear you pouting through the phone lines."

" _With good reason!"_

"I don't want to spoil the surprise, is all."

" _Come on, just one photo? And if you should happen to be in some kind of sexy bedroom ensemble—"_

"I'm wearing pajamas, you perv!"

" _Cartoon pajamas? Justice League? You know your nerdy side turns me on too."_

"I do not, nor have I ever owned, Justice League pajamas."

" _You always say that, but—"_ His voice cut off abruptly, and Veronica sat up in alarm.

" _Logan, what are you doing still up? And on the phone? You know it's a school night, son."_ Although muffled, she'd long since trained her ears for the sound of Aaron Echolls' voice. With speedy efficiency, she grabbed a housecoat and car keys, picked up a pair of fuzzy pink slippers, and ran barefoot for her car.

"I gotta go, Veronica," Logan said into the phone. Then, muffled, "Sorry, Dad."

"Logan, I'm on my way!"

"No, I'll talk to you tomorrow. Good night."

"Lo—" She cursed as he dropped the call, jumping into her car and gunning the engine.

* * *

Logan dithered in front of his father's rather impressive collection of belts. Aaron had instructed him to "pick a good one" and meet him in his office. Just as he'd selected one of medium width—the widest ones hurt least, but Aaron would insist he pick a slim, whiplike one if he made his choice too obvious—the doorbell rang. He cursed.

A few moments later, his father's voice rang out through the too-silent house. "Logan, son, leave that for a moment. Veronica's here."

Hanging the belt back up, he sighed, wondering what lie the tiny blond girl had come up with on the fly. The Fab Four had quickly determined that while Duncan's good ole boy routine worked from time to time—especially since Aaron knew the value of cultivating the friendship between his son and the heir to the Kane billions—the aging action star was a sucker for a damsel-in-distress scenario.

Aaron tended to actually approve of his son playing white knight to either Lilly or Veronica. Veronica especially, as she was particularly adept at playing the innocent, something Lilly's natural affinity for the role of ingenue never quite meshed with. She also frequently chose out fits that made her look all of 12 years old, and she had a God-given talent for turning on the waterworks at the drop of a hat.

"I'm sooo sorry for coming this late, Mr. Echolls," he heard her saying as he approached. Her voice dripped syrupy sweetness, but there was an undertone of rage in it.

 _Cool it, Mars,_ he thought. _Don_ _'t want Daddy Dearest to suspect you know what's going on_.

As it was, he needn't have worried about his father seeing through her lies. "It's just that Logan and I were having an argument with your donkey's butt of a son hung up on me! Oh gosh, Mr. Echolls, I'm sorry, please excuse my language."

Aaron coughed. "Ah, I don't think donkey's butt actually counts as a swear word, Veronica," he said, amusement in his tone, which had been foreboding just moments before.

"Oh, but you know, my dad is super strict about calling people names, and he's always warning me to watch my language, especially around my elders," Veronica said, positively radiating in earnestness and pretending not to notice Aaron's wince at the reference to his age.

"Ah, well, I won't say anything to him, although I'm sure he would be proud for having such an obedient daughter. Logan could take a page off your book, especially if my son has the bad judgment to disagree with you on anything."

"If you ask me, he could take a page off yours, Mr. Echolls!" she cried, and Logan could see her face now, all innocence and puppy-like adoration. If he hadn't seen her doing impressions of herself talking to his father, he would never have been able to tell how utterly disgusted she was with the actor or with "Amber," the persona she adopted when speaking to him. "He's being completely unreasonable!"

"I'll be sure to speak to him about—"

"There you are, you hulking baboon butt!"

Logan froze as she turned her attention to him. Partially because of the way her expression morphed from sickly-sweet fangirl to outraged pixie. And partly because she was wearing a bright pink house robe thrown over a set of green-and-pink unicorn pajamas. Her hair was tied up in stubby pigtails, and her face was washed clean of makeup. On her feet were pink fuzzy bunny slippers. For real. She looked like a third grader.

"Ah, Veronica, what are you doing h—?"

"I can't believe you hung up on me before I could hang up on you!"

"I didn't—"

"And all because you didn't believe me when I told you that Troy Vandergraff most certainly is NOT 'hung up on me,' like you keep insisting! Just because I said we could hang out now that his family has moved here, and he'll be starting at Neptune High this week! Plus, so what if we hung out this summer? Doesn't mean you get to go all Planet of the Apes on me about who I get to be friends with this year! I mean, what are you, some kind of Neanderthal?"

Logan had to admire her tactics. She'd often lectured the Fab Four on the fact that the best lies were often founded on truth, and they'd actually had a discussion about Vandergraff at the Kanes' the other day. Because her tirade had served the dual purpose of giving him time to formulate his response and sending his father into guffaws thinly disguised as a coughing fit.

"Ronnie," he said, not having to fake exasperation all that much, "the guy has bedhopped his way through a bunch of the girls from both Pan and Neptune High. And didn't you tell me he groped you at the party on the Kane's boat last summer?"

She rolled her eyes. "His hand slipped. He said it was an accident and he apologized." Not that she or any of the Fab Four had believed a word out of Troy's mouth at the time.

"That kind of guy will say anything he thinks will get into a girl's skirts," he said, really warming up to the topic now. Troy Vandergraff had been a sore point for a couple of years now. "Plus, Duncan said he heard a rumor that he was kicked out of that prep school he was going to because he failed his drug test twice."

"You know better than to listen to rumors, Logan."

"You know better than to doubt a rumor when Duncan Kane repeats it," he countered.

"Whatever happened to 'innocent until proven guilty'? I mean, if I believed every rumor I heard about you—"

"Oh, spare me the _Touched by an Angel_ routine. Troy's bad news. I'm just looking out for you."

"By being a total donkey's butt!"

"I'm not—"

"Donkey's butt!"

"Ver—"

"You hung up on me!"

"Ah, that was probably my fault," Aaron said suddenly, interrupting the argument right when Logan was running out of things to say and the willpower to keep from snickering. "I told Logan he shouldn't be on the phone so late on a school night."

"Ohmigosh, I'm so sorry, Mr. Echolls! And I can't believe I just stormed right over here to yell at him!" Pleading eyes filled with tears before Veronica dropped her head and made a show of staring at her feet. Logan smirked at her fuzzy bunny slippers.

"It sounds like Logan has a point, though, Veronica," Aaron said, adopting a textbook stern fatherly tone that was so put on that only years of practice kept Logan from grimacing at it. "This boy sounds like bad news. I'm sure my son is just looking out for you, as any concerned friend would."

She blew out a breath in an exaggerated sigh, causing her bangs to fly up and then stick out a bit. Logan appreciated the comical picture before him in the form of the five-foot-nothing blond. He'd have to tell her how cute her new haircut looked. "You're right," she said in a small voice. "I'm sorry, Logan. And I'm sorry for coming over so late and disrupting your evening, Mr. Echolls."

"It's no problem, Veronica. It was quite, ah, entertaining, actually. And I'm sure Logan here understands that you were only trying to be nice about the boy. But you really should be careful, not all guys are good guys, if you know what I mean."

She sighed again. "Yeah, I guess. Thanks, Mr. Echolls."

"Anytime. Now, I think you should head home before your parents start wondering where you are."

Her eyes widened. "My dad should be home any minute now!" She made a show of spinning on her heel and dashing for her car. "Bye, Mr. Echolls! Bye, Logan! Sorry again! Say hi to Mrs. Echolls for me! Good night!"

A moment later, she'd driven away, leaving the two Echolls men standing at the doorway, staring after her.

"She's feisty, isn't she?" Aaron managed.

Logan gave a short laugh. "She's something, anyway." _Amazing. Ingenious. Hot._

"I look forward to seeing what she's like in a year or two," the movie star murmured. Something in his voice had his son's stomach twisting sickly. Then, louder, Aaron said, "She seems kind of naïve, is all I'm saying."

"Mmm-hmm." Logan knew well and good Veronica Mars was sharper than anyone he knew, probably sharper than anyone in Neptune or even the whole of southern California. "I wasn't lying about Vandergraff," was all he said. _When in doubt or awkwardness_ , the Veronica-voice in his head lectured, _stick to the bare truth_.

"You should keep an eye on this boy," his father said, voice hard as he shut the front door. That he didn't slam it told Logan he might just be able to breathe easier tonight. "He sounds like trouble."

"I plan to. Duncan's parents know his parents, so DK and I thought we'd take the 'keep your friends close and your enemies closer' approach."

"That's good," Aaron said, clapping Logan on the back. Hard. He winced. "You know your mother really likes Veronica and would be very upset to hear it if you let any boys take advantage of her."

"No more upset than me, Dad." Again, the truth and nothing but the truth.

"I'm glad to see you taking such good care of your friends." Aaron paused. "Anyway, as I mentioned, it's a school night. I think you should head up to bed now. Wouldn't want you to wake up late for your first day of the new year."

 _Breathe_. "Thanks, Dad." Logan turned to head upstairs, only to be stopped once more by his father's voice.

"I don't think we need to mention Veronica's little visit or what prompted it to your mother."

"No, of course not."

"I know she thinks you and Veronica have a thing, but after seeing her tonight, I have my doubts."

Logan turned to his father and schooled his face into a smirk. "Dad, do you really think I'd be dating a girl who shows up at a guy's house in unicorn pajamas and fuzzy bunny slippers to yell at him and call him a donkey's butt?"

Aaron huffed out a laugh. "No, I don't suppose you would. Especially after you've had Lilly Kane."

 _Just goes to show what you know_. Logan preferred not to think about the tone of Aaron's voice when he'd mentioned the other blond member of the Fab Four.

He also didn't want his father to realize the truth—that he was an even bigger LoVe shipper than Lilly Kane and had been since he'd met Veronica Mars when she'd swooped into his life at the age of 12, wearing pigtails, knee socks, and a smile that warmed his insides.

"Speaking of which, I haven't seen Lilly in a while."

"Lilly and I broke up," he said shortly.

"Oh?"

"Yeah. She probably won't be around much."

"You're still friends with Duncan and Veronica, though?" If there was anything Aaron liked better than preening over his awards, it was namedropping, and he got a lot of mileage out of mentioned his good friends Jake Kane (yes, the billionaire) and Keith Mars (who'd been golf buddies with both the President and his predecessor).

"Yeah, Dad," Logan said. Then, cautiously, "DK and I will probably hang here or at the Kanes' when we're not at the beach. Mr. Mars prefers we stay at his place when we hang with Veronica without Lilly, though. He's kind of strict."

"Any father with a teenage daughter should be, as Trina has taught me. Well, good night, son."

"Good night, Dad."

When he got to his room, Logan grabbed his phone from the bedside table and sent a quick text to Veronica.

 _Thanks for the save, angel_.

 _Who_ _'re you calling Angel? I'm totally Buffy. You're Angel._

 _Nah, I_ _'m pretty sure I'm Spike. Maybe Duncan can be Angel. Who would Lilly be?_

 _Faith, of course! Girl kicks ass and knows how to have fun. Plus, pretty sure Duncan would be Giles._

He huffed out a laugh. _All right, Slayer. No need to nerdgasm all over me._

 _I am not a nerd._

 _You total are. Don_ _'t worry. I'll keep your secret. It's kinda hot. Like your new 'do._

 _Wait til you get a load of me tomorrow. Ya ain_ _'t seen nothing yet._

 _Can_ _'t wait, though not looking forward to not hanging with you at school._

 _Greater good, Lo. Night._

 _Sweet dreams, Veronica. You looked hot in your unicorn pajamas._

 _Perv._

Smiling, he set his phone down, checked his alarm, and headed for dreamland.

* * *

 **A/N:** This is a bit early, but I'm not sure what my internet connectivity is going to be like tomorrow, so here you go! Thanks for reading! The next update is scheduled for October 30, 2018.


	5. The First Day of the Rest of Your Life

**Chapter 5: The First Day of the Rest of Your Life**

SUMMARY: It's the first day of the new school year. The new badass Veronica makes an entrance. The PCHers make it too easy.

* * *

Veronica followed the scent of coffee and bacon into the kitchen, grabbing a mug and heading for the espresso machine when she saw her father flipping pancakes.

She'd woken up early today, knowing she would have to make an impression. She was dressed carefully in a jean jacket, tank top, and butt-hugging jeans, which she tucked into calf-high boots. She wore the star-pendant necklace Lilly had given her for her last birthday, but paired it with a choker. While Meg had encouraged her to go semi-goth in her look, she'd decided to keep things light and natural, save for a little color on her cheeks, plus lip stain and gloss.

 _You_ _'re going to scorch the halls of Neptune High with your hotness, Veronica Mars!_ Lilly had replied when Veronica had sent her the photos she'd taken of her face and outfit.

"Good morning, number one daughter," Keith Mars said cheerfully, eyes on the pan. "Ready for your first day of sch—"

Veronica turned to see what had happened, only to meet his slack-jawed stare. "Morning, Dad."

"Who are you, and what have you done with my darling daughter?"

She snorted. "I told you I was getting a makeover this weekend." She reached up and toyed with the ends of her hair. "You don't like how I look?"

Keith flipped the pancake he'd been cooking onto the growing stack to one side of the stove, then put the pan down and came over to hug his daughter. "You look beautiful, honey," he said, kissing the top of her head. "Always. You just surprised me, that's all. Has your mom seen your new look yet?"

Veronica shook her head. "She said something about a spa date and night out with girl friends yesterday, so Meg and I grabbed dinner after our marathon salon and shopping session."

"Well, I guess she's in for a surprise then," Keith said after a moment. Although both father and daughter knew well and good that Lianne had all likelihood not spent the evening with _girl_ friends, they'd gotten into the habit of not talking about it. "Can I ask what inspired this transition from Barbie Veronica into, ah, action figure?"

She giggled, then turned back toward the coffee machine to make herself a macchiato. "Action figure?"

"Those boots are made for butt-kicking!" Keith said cheerfully.

"Well, Dad, you know what you always say about projecting competence and professionalism?"

"Ye-es, I do vaguely recall making comments to that effect in your presence, although never directed at you, honey." Keith moved back toward the stove and started on another batch of pancakes.

"Of course not! I am aces at embodying the image I want to project."

"So what image does this project?" he asked, indicating her outfit with a spatula.

"That I'm a badass teenage private investigator, of course!" She tilted her head. "Or have you forgotten I mentioned I'd be starting my own little business this school year?"

"Ah, I didn't realize you were so serious about that, honey," Keith said, frowning as he flipped a pancake expertly.

"Of course I was! What better way to hone my skills at detection and surveillance than getting paid to figure out which jock is cheating on which cheerleader, and vice versa?"

"I'm not sure if I'm proud or appalled that you've decided to capitalize on the depravity of your fellow teenagers," Keith observed. He took the plates of pancakes over to the breakfast table, where Veronica had already brought a mug of coffee for him and started on the bacon and eggs he'd laid out earlier. She made approving noises when he laid a plate stacked with pancakes in front of her, then proceeded to dig in.

"Aww, you know you're proud of me, Pop," Veronica chirped between bites.

"I always am, honey," Keith said. "Although don't think I don't know you were out past curfew last night. In your pajamas, no less. Your gate code was on the log at 10:32, and cameras don't lie."

"Sorry, Dad," Veronica said. "I forgot something at Logan's and just went over to pick it up. I came straight back, I promise."

"Was Aaron there? You know I don't like you spending any kind of time with him. Guy's a tool."

"He's your client, Dad," Veronica reminded him.

"Only because I'm determined to one day catch him at something I'll be obligated to take to the authorities," her father replied. "Also I prefer to think of Lynn being my client. Don't think I've missed the fact that you haven't answered my question."

"Ah, look at the time. Gotta go to school now! Can't be late on my first day!" Veronica stood, downed the last of her coffee, and all but sprinted for the door, stopping only to pick up her bag from the table in the foyer. "Have a good day, Dad!"

She left her home with a cheerful slam of the door, leaving Keith in the sudden silence of their house. "I guess she did answer my question," he mused.

* * *

Veronica took her time driving into school in the morning. In years past, Lilly and Logan had become known for their chronic tardiness when she wasn't with them, and she'd been known to come to school very early when left to her own devices.

Today she decided she didn't want to spend too much time loitering around before class, so she pulled in about 15 minutes before first bell, which would allow her to make it to class on time, make an impact as most of the school would already be present, and avoid any confrontations until she got the lay of the land.

She raised an eyebrow when she pulled into the parking lot and saw Logan's canary mobile already in its customary spot, with Lilly's SUV right beside it. That was unusual, but she figured her friends would not have allowed themselves to miss her big entrance, despite their dedication to chronic tardiness.

She deliberately picked a spot far away from theirs, but still within view of the school entrance. She squared her shoulders and got out of the car.

As she neared the school, she noticed a crowd had gathered around the flagpole and suppressed a grin of delight. Sometimes the universe really just threw opportunities into her lap. Someone from the high school had pissed off the PCHers, and they'd no doubt gone their usual route of duct taping him to the flagpole.

"Who'd that guy rat out?" one boy asked. Veronica didn't bother figuring out who had spoken, simply started making her way through the crowd.

"The bikers."

"Why doesn't somebody cut him down?"

"Yeah! I'll do it. I wanna be the guy up there tomorrow!"

Veronica cursed her lack of height as by the time she saw who'd been taped to the flagpole, she was right in front of it. A boy sporting a minor afro avoided meeting the eyes of the students gathered around him. She rolled her eyes when she saw the PCHers had painted the word "snich"—trust them to spell it wrong—across the guy's chest.

Just as she started forward, she saw one of the jocks come up with a camera and strike a pose. "All right, say cheese. Smile."

 _Perfect._ Veronica stomped forward, got in his face. "Move."

"Who died and made you the quee—"

In a swift move, Veronica pulled out a pocket knife—small, but military-grade; a gift from her daddy, of course—and flicked it open just inches from his face. Smiled a little when he paled and did as he was told.

She didn't bother to acknowledge him when he called out, "You are a freak!" Instead, she focused on slicing at the tape to free Flagpole Boy's wrists.

"You're new here, huh? Welcome to Neptune High."

Flagpole Guy took a breath, but before he could say anything, the bell rang and people started heading into the school.

Veronica noticed the second and third looks she was getting from many of the crowd—particularly the 09ers, and her lips lifted in a sneer. "Go, Pirates!"

Finally, she'd managed to get the guy free of the flagpole, though she left the duct tape around his hips to preserve his modesty and hers.

"Thanks," he said.

"Don't mention it." She eyed his sad self for a moment and then sighed. Dug in her messenger bag until her fingers closed around the coolness of aluminum. "Here," she said, handing him a small can of WD-40. "This'll help make it hurt…less."

The guy gave her a weird look. "Do you always carry this around in your bag? It's kind of a weird accessory for a high school girl."

"Always be prepared," Veronica chirped, holding up three fingers.

"You look really female, for a boy scout," he said dryly. Veronica thought it was good he had a sense of humor. He'd definitely need it if he was going to survive Neptune High after such an auspicious beginning.

Just then a suit-clad figure exited the school, making a bee-line for them. "Veronica Mars," Vice Principal Van Clemmons drawled. "What's going on here?"

* * *

Veronica's morning classes were a little on the weird side. Mostly people didn't know what to do with her new look. Though Meg made a point of sitting next to her in the two classes they had together, which Veronica appreciated.

Things got really awkward at lunch time. Veronica made a point of skipping the whole don't-let-her-have-a-seat drama that was the usual fare to let someone know she was persona non grata at the 09ers tables, but she didn't want to make it look like she was hiding, so she decided against lunch at the library.

Instead, she loaded a tray with mystery meatloaf and mushy mixed veggies, set up camp on the bright red table in the middle of the quad and directly in view of the 09ers, and proceeded to jab her fork into the dubious meat while the kids she used to sit with saw to the business of paying for their pizza delivery.

She narrowed her eyes, staring at the group. Lines had clearly been drawn between the 09er king and queen. Logan hammed it up as he lorded over one table, while Lilly was all beaming smiles and coy glances at the other. Meg and Duncan sat awkwardly on the benches between the two tables, occasionally sending apprehensive glances Veronica's way.

At one point, Logan glanced up, and seeing her looking, walked over to Duncan and gave him an exaggerated lap dance, staring at her the whole time. "Want some of this, Mars?" he called.

"In your dreams, Echolls," she sneered back. He winked, then made a show of scowling at her. She resisted the urge to roll her eyes. _Way to break character, Lo_.

Not to be outdone, Lilly taunted, "I always knew you had a thing for my boyfriend, Veronica Mars! Well, you can have my leftovers if you drag him out to the badlands with you."

"Lilly my love, I'm sitting in sunshine here," Veronica said, snappy cheer in her voice and a bright, obviously fake smile on her face. "Looks like you're the ones in the shade." She eyed the yellow umbrellas affixed over the 09er tables, a feature conspicuously lacking from most of the other tables in the quad.

"Well, I guess you need the heat to cook that mystery meat of yours," Lilly snarked back, eyes sparkling, smile vicious. "No more Pirate Points for you this year. You're off the pep squad."

Veronica snorted. "You assume I wanted to be on it."

"You're just jealous cause you can't fill out the uniform like I can."

"Shut up, guys," Duncan finally snapped, and everyone did. "Just leave her alone."

 _Good boy_.

So directed, the 09ers proceeded to ignore Veronica, and she went back to her silent observation. She noticed Dick Casablancas looking her way with a frown on his face, but she pointedly avoided having their gazes meet.

"You okay?"

She squinted up at the guy who slid onto the bench across the table from her. He impeded her view of the 09er table, but she realized it was this morning's Flagpole Guy and decided he'd be a suitably interesting distraction.

"What?"

"You look—I don't know. Hypnotized." He was watching her face as he pulled an orange out of the brown paper bag he'd set on the table.

Veronica glared at him. "Did I say you could sit here?"

He looked half dejected and half angry as he dropped his orange back in the bag, grabbed it, and stood back up. Veronica sighed.

"Wait a minute. Of course you can sit here. Sit wherever you want."

He sat back down.

"I just wanted to say that—that was cool." Veronica stared at him. "What you did. Cutting me off of that pole."

"Well—" Veronica stiffened as she felt someone approach from behind her. She felt the shift in air as five guys walked right past her.

"My bitch." Eli "Weevil" Navarro, head of the PCH bike club, swaggered over and swung a leg to straddle the bench Flagpole Boy was sitting on. He got right into other guy's space, their faces close enough to kiss. Or bite. Four of his guys stood behind their bald black-clad leader. "Weren't you supposed to wait for me at the flagpole? I'm not sure I could have made that any clearer."

Flagpole Boy breathed deep, let out a shaky laugh. _Mistake_ , Veronica thought. _Don_ _'t let them see your fear_. "Okay, I get it, all right? Very funny. I guess we're even now. Right?" Veronica was tempted to shake her head at his poor comeback.

"You get what, boy? You get that you're a dead man walking, is that what you get?"

Veronica sighed. "Leave him alone."

Eli turned, and she saw the amusement in his eyes when he took in her new look. She raised an eyebrow. He grinned and got off the bench to get a closer look. And probably to loom over her a bit.

"Sister," he said drolly, "the only time I care what a woman has to say is when she's riding my big old hog. But even then, it's not so much words, just a bunch of oohs and ahhs, you know?"

Veronica caught a glimpse of Logan stiffening and about to rise from his seat, she caught his eye for half a second, shook her head, and schooled her face into a smirk. "So it's big, huh?"

Eli looked nonplussed for a moment, then his grin widened. "Legendary," he proclaimed.

Veronica put on her best "Amber" face, the one she usually reserved for Aaron Echolls and the more misogynistic teachers. "Well let's see it. I mean if it's as big as you say, _I_ _'ll_ be your girlfriend." She made a show of gasping. "We could go to prom together!"

The biker threw his head back and laughed out loud. He shook his head, still chuckling.

Veronica decided to push him a bit. "What? What seems to be the problem? I'm on a schedule here, _vato_."

Eli's right-hand guy, Felix Toombs, jumped in at this point. He'd always been a little wary of Veronica, ever since she'd started tutoring Eli on some of the classes he'd been struggling with. She decided it was because he kind of liked her despite himself. Much like Eli did, come to think of it. Still, Felix was Eli's second-in-command, and a slight was not to be tolerated.

"Dude—Weevil. Don't let blondie talk to you like that!"

Veronica smirked. "Sounds like your buddy here wants to see it too."

She saw the moment Felix decided to try and call her bluff. "Ah, hell. I'll show you mine!" He lifted his the hem of his shirt and reached for his belt buckle. Eli was about to move to stop him when they were interrupted.

"Felix Toombs!" Veronica resisted the urge to giggle. Vice Principal Clemmons to the rescue, for the second time today. "What on God's green earth is going on here?" He didn't wait for a response. "All right, gentlemen, move it along. Veronica, why does trouble follow you around?"

"Just lucky, I guess," Veronica said, Amber smile firmly in place.

Clemmons rolled his eyes and proceeded to usher the bikers away from her table. Veronica saw Felix glare at Flagpole Boy as they left.

"So what did you do?" Veronica asked when they were left alone again.

"What?"

"Why are you a dead man walking?" What she really meant was, _Will you be my first client?_

So he told her. He'd been working at the local Sac-N-Pack when two of the bikers had come in and started blatantly lifting drinks out of the fridge. He'd hit the silent alarm, not realizing the whole gang was parked just outside.

He'd tried to backtrack when confronted with the glares of both the bikers and the sheriff, who'd come in response to the alarm, but the sheriff had confiscated the video footage and arrested the two bikers anyway.

"Hmm."

"That's all you're gonna say?"

Veronica shrugged and stood up. "Lunchtime's over." She made her way toward the trash area to dump her uneaten lunch as the warning bell rang.

"Hey, hey, what's your name?" He'd followed her.

"What's yours?"

"Wallace Fennel." He stuck a hand out. She stared at it dubiously, then shook it briefly.

"Veronica Mars."

* * *

After school, Veronica stopped by her house to pick up her pit bull, Backup, and headed for dog beach. She let him stretch out his legs, throwing a ball for him to fetch for about a half hour, staying positioned in a spot with a clear view up and down the boulevard. She spotted Flagpole Guy, Wallace, flying some kind of remote controlled model airplane and raised a hand in a brief greeting when he saw her and waved.

Not long after that, she saw what she was waiting for—Eli and his biker gang had all but surrounded her SUV.

Backup at her heels, she strolled toward her car and made a show of looking curious when the bikers saw her and started posturing aggressively.

She tilted her head. "Can I help you gentlemen?"

"As a matter of fact, we were wondering that thing. Are you lost, miss? Or having car trouble? It's not every day an 09er _princesa_ graces us with her presence in the 02er district."

She shrugs. "It's a free country. This is Dog Beach. I have a dog. Who likes the beach."

A tall greasy-haired biker stalked up to Veronica, ignoring Backup's warning growl. "Hey Weevil," he sneered, reaching over to grab Veronica's wrist. She tensed. "Who gets the first dance—"

Backup lunged at the guy, the dog's muscular form hitting just above the knees so the biker fell over. Veronica used a subtle self-defense move to slip her wrist from the guy's fingers so she didn't end up going down with him. She slid her hand into her messenger bag, closed it around her taser. Backup was worrying at the biker's sleeve, snarling viciously.

"Get him off me!" the biker screamed. "Get him off me! Get him off!"

Felix stepped forward, but kept a safe distance away from the dog. "Girl, you best call off your dog."

Eyes on the approaching biker, Veronica addressed his boss flatly. "Weevil, you best call off yours." She lifted the taser and sparked it with casual indifference. A warning shot, if the bikers knew what was good for them.

In a move reminiscent of his compatriot, Felix grabbed her by the wrist. Veronica responded by tasering him, right at the center of his chest. He went down. Veronica raised her eyes to Eli's, and he rolled them upward, as if pleading to some heavenly protector of leather-clad idiots.

"Backup! Chill!" The growling stopped. Veronica didn't have to glance at her dog to know he'd let go of Greasy Biker Guy and stepped back. "I'll tell you what," she said, smiling magnanimously. "We'll call it a draw."

Weevil raised his eyebrows at her daring. She supposed the past two years spent parading around Neptune as Little Miss Perfect were not going to be undone in a day. "Baby, come on. It's too late for that."

Veronica narrowed her eyes at him. "Here's the deal. Leave that kid at school alone for a week, and I'll make sure your boys walk."

Weevil affected a put-upon sigh. "Why do you care so much for that skinny negro anyway? And what's with the makeover? Some kind of teenage rebellion, except instead of going against your daddy, you picked a fight with Lilly Kane? I heard about you going off on her and her boytoy over the weekend."

Despite the derision in the guy's tone, he was genuinely curious. Veronica shrugged. "Someone needed to call them on their bullshit. Seemed like no one else was inclined to, so here I am."

"And you think messing with me is gonna help your cause when the Kanes and Echolls set the dogs on you?"

"Nope," Veronica said, popping the P. "This is just me doing my civic duty as the self-appointed Neptune High welcoming committee."

"I'll show you a welcoming committee," Felix snarled, getting back on his feet and stepping toward Veronica menacingly. Backup growled a warning, and Veronica simply sparked her taser at him again.

Weevil sighed. "All right, all right, all right. Felix, we get it. You're a badass, okay? But for once, don't be stupid."

Felix backed off, looking between Weevil and Veronica warily. Veronica pretended not to notice the relief on his face or in his posture.

"You should listen to good advice when it's given to you," she said. Then, to Weevil, "Flagpole guy didn't deserve what you did to him. He's new here, doesn't know how things work. I'll have your boys out in a week. Nothing but a warning and maybe a couple hours' community service."

"Gonna get your daddy's bitch to drop the charges?" one of the bikers sneered. "Everybody knows when Keith Mars says jump, Sheriff Lamb asks how high."

"Think it's that easy?" Veronica demanded. "Your boys were caught on tape, like a pair of amateur idiots. That's evidence, and it can't just go missing for no reason. You know the drill well enough, Weevil. If it was just a case of he said/they said, I'd clear this up in a day. As it is, I'm gonna need to finesse this a bit."

The biker pursed his lips thoughtfully, though Veronica could tell he'd done it to keep from grinning. "All right. One week. After that, we come for you, your boy and your little dog too."

"You can try, Eli. But if you think all that pink I used to wear means I don't know how to kick ass, you'd best prepare a cushion for that hog of yours by the time we're done."

"Or maybe I'm gonna need that cushion for someone else entirely. Whatcha think, white girl?"

Backup growled at Weevil's dark tone. "Backup, be cool," Veronica snapped. The dog subsided.

Weevil revved the engine on his bike. "Well, until next week, blondie. And if you get lonely away from all your little friends, remember—Weevil love you long time."

He blew Veronica a kiss. Veronica rolled her eyes and sent him an Amber smile and a perky "peace out" sign. She saved the grin for after the bikers had rolled away.

* * *

 **A/N:** Thanks for reading! The next update is scheduled for November 10, 2018.


	6. Finessing the Fix-Up

**Chapter 6** : **Finessing the Fixup**

* * *

SUMMARY: Veronica puts plans in motion for her first prank. The 09er girls unsheathe their claws.

* * *

On her way home, Veronica drove up to the Balboa County Sheriff's Department, though not before stopping to pick up a box of donuts and coffee for the sheriff. Backup was more than happy to visit with Buster, the department's K-9, whose adoption and training Keith Mars had gifted to celebrate Lamb's election as sheriff a couple years back.

"Veronica! Ach, little Veronica! How are you? And how's your father?" The bird-like countenance of the department's receptionist and dispatcher brightened at the sight of her.

Veronica smiled brightly. "Fine, Inga. We're both fine. Is Don in? I thought I'd drop by with an afternoon snack."

"Ja, he'll be happy to see you, especially when you bring food and coffee," the German-born woman said with a kind smile. "Perhaps your visit will cure him off his bad mood." She leaned over the desk and stage-whispered, "Paperwork."

"Ah. Say no more. Veronica Mars is here to save you from Grumpy McGrumpsalot." With a grin and a toast of the coffee in her hand, Veronica sailed past her to knock on the sheriff's door.

"This better be good," Sheriff Don Lamb threatened as he opened the door. Upon seeing Veronica, his frown promptly turned upside down.

"I'm always better than good," she said cheerfully. "And I come bearing a hazelnut macchiato for you and donuts for all."

"Come to bribe a poor hardworking officer of the law, have you?" he teased, smirking, as he snatched the coffee out of her hand and bent down to accept a kiss on the cheek.

"Nah," Veronica replied cheerfully. "I heard you hired a hot new deputy, and I wanted to scope him out before the other Neptune High girls got a chance."

Don scowled. "Not gonna happen, Veronica. He's twenty years old. Way too old for you. And if I haven't informed him of my favorite high school student's age yet, I'm certainly going to do so before leaving tonight." He was something between a big brother and a benevolent uncle of hers, and as a former apprentice of Keith's, he was almost as good at deterring Veronica's would-be suitors as her father was.

Veronica laughed. "Don't worry, Don. I'm not gonna go all Madison Sinclair on the new guy."

Don grimaced. "Very funny." Veronica's classmate had spent the past year throwing herself at the handsome sheriff; the other girl had decided he would not only make a great lover but would also help her avoid losing her license thanks to her numerous traffic tickets.

The sheriff took a couple of donuts from the box, laying them carefully on a paper napkin, before depositing the box on the counter leading to the bullpen. Then he turned to Veronica and said, "Why don't you come into my office before the ravening hordes descend on your offering?"

Chuckling, Veronica followed him, then dropped into one of the chairs across the desk from his. "So," she said brightly. "While I enjoy visiting the sheriff's department as much as the next girl, I actually did have an ulterior motive for showing up here today."

"Of course you do." Don smirked as he sat down and started digging into a jelly-filled donut. "You gotta be you, after all. So what can I do you for?"

"What'll it take for you to let the two PCHers you busted at the Sac-N-Pack off with a warning?"

"Uh-uh, no can do, Veronica. We got those guys dead to rights. Dumbasses didn't even bother hiding what they were doing. Even though the cashier didn't agree to testify, I've got a video tape that's irrefutable."

"So as long as you have the tape, your hands are tied," Veronica murmured.

He narrowed his eyes at her. "Yeah, but don't think I'm gonna stand by and just lose evidence just to do you a favor. You couldn't buy me enough donuts for that."

"Hmm."

"Don't _hmm_ me, young lady. I'm not gonna lose my job over one of your schemes."

"What if I made it so you had an excuse? And traded you info on a couple of drug runners?"

Don sat up in his seat, instantly alert. "Veronica, what the heck do you know about local drug trafficking?"

 _More than you could know_ , Veronica thought. Aloud, she said, "I've got rumors from reliable sources, and I'll probably have something more solid if you give me a month or two to look into things."

"Now I know you know that expression about a bird in hand being worth two in the bush."

"Yeah, but check it." Veronica held her hands up and pretended to weigh each as if on a scale. "On one hand, petty thievery amounting to less than $20. On the other hand, drug trafficking scheme that may be tied to Neptune High."

Don sighed. "Fine, but don't think I won't hold you to this. And I don't want to hear anything about what you have planned. I demand plausible deniability that doesn't leave me or my guys looking like chumps."

"No problem."

"Also, you will owe me muffins for this."

"Absolutely. I'll make a batch of blueberry ones. I know they're your favorite."

* * *

Later that evening, Veronica logged on to the Fab Four group chat application she and Duncan had talked his dad into creating for them. Jake being Jake, she had no doubts he would find some way to mass market it and make a killing.

Veronica rolled her eyes when she saw Lilly's greeting.

 **FabuLilly** : Veronica Mars! Finally! The lady of the hour has arrived. We were just about to give up on you.

 **GeneralV** : I had a lot of errands to run before I got home. And who came up with these nicknames?

 **DuncanDonut** : Lilly, of course. Who else?

 **LogieBear** : What errands are those? And don't think you can distract us from talking about how you deliberately riled up the PCHers at lunch today.

 **GeneralV** : Shut up, Logan. Don't think I didn't see you almost breaking character earlier. As for my errands, let's just say I am pursuing our agenda. Lamb may or may not have agreed to help me help Wallace and Weevil in exchange for my pulling him in to handle the Luke Haldeman situation. Three birds, one stone. I'm actually a little surprised at how elegantly things came together.

 **LogieBear** : You know I just LOVE you cozying up to the PCHers.

 **DuncanDonut** : Logan's right, Veronica. I mean, I know you say Weevil's good, but how do we know he's got a good leash on his guys?

 **FabuLilly** : Logie's just jelly, Ronica, and Duncan's being a doofus as usual. You and I both know Weevil's good for a lot of things, and his guys don't sneeze without checking with him first.

 **GeneralV** : I'm pretty sure the things you know Weevil is good for are completely different from the things I had in mind.

 **FabuLilly** : Only because you refuse all my invitations and keep leaving us an open-faced sandwich.

 **GeneralV** : Ewwww, Lilly. God. Get your mind out of the gutter for once, won't you?

 **DuncanDonut** : Yeah, I could totally do without the mental image of having both my sisters in a threesome with the head of the local biker gang.

 **LogieBear** : Speak for yourself, DK. I'm only jealous this wasn't on offer when Lilly and I were still together.

 **FabuLilly** : Hey, what better way to show the world you're red satin and not yellow cotton, Veronica Mars? And, lovah, do you really think it wasn't?

 **GeneralV** : Okay, guys, do I have to slam a gavel and yell "Order! Order!" here? Duncan, rest assured it will never happen. Lilly, I prefer black leather to red satin. Logan, she did offer, and I turned her down then too, so don't get ideas.

 **LogieBear** : Too late, GeneralV.

 **FabuLilly** : Ooh, kinky, Veronica Mars. Make that black latex and things would be even more interesting!

 **GeneralV** : Nope. Black leather. All the better to hide the blood of my enemies with. And it goes better with my new image.

 **FabuLilly** : And speaking of your new image, VERONICA MARS! Ohmigod. You were amazing today! It was so hard not to squeal, from that badass entrance to the lunchtime show, and everything!

 **GeneralV** : Thanks, Lils. I did want to make an impact.

 **DuncanDonut** : She squealed into my shoulder when you had your showdown with the PCHers, then had to hide it by going into gleeful villainess mode.

 **FabuLilly** : It's true, it's totally true. I have no defense. I almost broke character as badly as Logan did today. But did you SEE Weevil's face when you asked to see his goods? Like ohmigod I wish I had a video of that.

 **LogieBear** : I don't think Veronica should push him too far, is all.

 **GeneralV** : Logan, Weevil's cool. He knows his grandmother would never forgive him if he messed with me too much—or you, for that matter. He's well aware that Mrs. Navarro and I are tight.

 **DuncanDonut** : I don't know, Veronica. A mutual love of cookie baking does not a relationship make.

 **FabuLilly** : God, Donut, you're so dense sometimes. Haven't you realized by now that Mrs. Navarro is Veronica's secret spy in the Echolls household?

 **LogieBear** : Really? She's how you know when to show up like magic and hit my dad with the charm or the weird teen awkwardness thing?

 **GeneralV** : Geez, Lilly, can't I keep at least SOME of my secrets? A girl likes a bit of mystery, ya know.

 **FabuLilly** : Ronica, darling, you have WAY too many secrets than can be healthy for a teenage girl. And while I love you for it, there's no reason to keep this one. It's not even a really GOOD secret, just a useful one.

 **GeneralV** : Fine. Yes, boys, Mrs. Navarro is my source for all things Aaron Echolls. She lets me know if he's in a bad mood, when he plans to leave and when he comes back.

 **LogieBear** : You mean she knows? About … you know?

 **GeneralV** : You need to understand that people who work in service almost always see way more than their employers realize, unless they're stupid or very unobservant. Mrs. Navarro is neither.

 **LogieBear** : So you think she knows.

 **GeneralV** : She's never said anything about you, though I get the feeling she's scared of Aaron, which is why I think she knows about it. But as far as what she knows about what I know… My excuse to her was that I was worried about your mom.

 **LogieBear** : My mom?

 **GeneralV** : We've talked about how she goes on a bender every time Aaron gets particularly nasty with you. And seriously, Lo, we really need to do something about how depressed and isolated she is.

 **FabuLilly** : LOL. Is this why you were asking me about the likelihood of Celeste being interested in forming a Cheaters' Wives Club with Lynn?

 **GeneralV** : Hey, make it a Cheaters' Spouses Club, and we could sign up my dad.

 **LogieBear** : No. No way we're putting my mom and your mom in a club together.

 **DuncanDonut** : You know… It might not actually be that bad an idea. You know Mr. Mars is friends with Mrs. Echolls, and he's already hinted to Veronica that he's looking for something on Aaron that he can take to the authorities.

 **LogieBear** : No. It's too dangerous to put them all together. They might figure out what we've been doing.

 **GeneralV** : I'd be surprised if my dad doesn't have at least an idea about some of it.

 **LogieBear** : Whatever. Can we table this for now? And get back to the topic at hand? That topic being Veronica's move to become frenemies with a bunch of violent thugs on motorbikes?

 **FabuLilly** : Why do we need to talk about it? Ronica can handle Weevil, and as far as the PCHers are concerned, whatever Weevil says, goes.

 **GeneralV** : Thank you, Lilly Kane.

 **FabuLilly** : You know I bask in the rays of your awesomeness, Veronica Mars.

 **LogieBear** : As long as you're sure you know what you're doing.

 **DuncanDonut** : When does she NOT know what she's doing?

 **GeneralV** : Of course! And it'll only help my new image if I'm on good terms with the bikers.

 **DuncanDonut** : Hey, by the way, what's the deal on the guy you cut down from the flagpole?

 **GeneralV** : Wallace Fennel, just moved here. Seems like a good guy.

 **LogieBear** : Which means we'll probably need to keep an eye on him so Neptune doesn't chew him up and spit him out.

 **GeneralV** : Yeah, probably. Anyway, if I get the PCHers off his ass, he'll be favorably inclined toward me.

 **FabuLilly** : You mean, if you get the PCHers off his ass, you'll own it. You've officially recruited your first minion.

 **GeneralV** : Don't be ridiculous, Lilly. I recruited my first minion the day I met you.

 **FabuLilly** : And don't you forget it! Then we recruited the boys. But it's good for you to have minions who aren't the Fab Four so they can serve you without being worried about the Narrative.

 **GeneralV** : Don and Jake are my minions, even if they don't realize it.

 **DuncanDonut** : LOL, I can't believe you called Dad a minion.

 **FabuLilly** : Didn't he make this whole chat app because Veronica had a brainstorm then told you what to say to him so he could be filled with fatherly pride and go and write some code for you? Veronica's even better at twisting Daddy around her little finger than I am cause he doesn't know when it's her doing the twisting.

 **LogieBear** : Then when you consider that HER Daddy gives her pretty much whatever she wants too, she's got better minions than the rest of us. I mean, Duncan and I have the 09er guys, and Lilly has the skank squad. Veronica has the sheriff and two of the most influential CEOs in California.

 **GeneralV** : Guys, enough of this "my minion army is bigger than yours" debate. Clearly, I am the winner and you all agree anyway.

 **LogieBear** : All hail the queen of minions!

 **GeneralV** : Thanks, Logan. Have you guys got any updates? Also, who's got classes with the people we're keeping an eye on? I've got first period English with Mac, second period calculus with Wallace. Duncan and I have seventh period history with both of them, and sixth period Spanish with Luke. I don't have any classes with Weevil.

 **LogieBear** : That's because almost all your classes are in AP, so you are less likely to cross paths with us underachievers. Don't think I haven't noticed we don't have any classes together this year, either. He's in second period English and fourth period history with me.

 **FabuLilly** : I started making nice with Darcy. Who confirms she and Casey Gant broke up over the summer. He started acting weird late last year. And I've got biology and economics with Casey. And yes, he doesn't have his Porsche anymore, but I couldn't confirm if he really did sell it and give the money to a cult, so whoever you got that bit of information from, it hasn't hit Neptune High yet.

 **GeneralV** : Bio and econ? That's sixth and seventh period for you, right?

 **FabuLilly** : Yep!

 **LogieBear** : He's definitely acting weird. I saw him playing hacky-sack with some 02ers.

 **GeneralV** : LOL, Logan, I didn't even know you knew what hacky-sack was.

 **LogieBear** : When I was a kid, my dad tried to appeal to the female hausfrau demographic by showing the press how he and I played the same games his own dad used to play with him. Lies, all lies, of course. But hacky-sack was a necessary life skill. And at least I was better at it than Casey seems to be.

 **FabuLilly** : He's also traded in those hot button downs and preppy cashmere sweaters of his for stuff he must've dug out of the Salvation Army bin. And Darcy said—wait, I recorded it and then wrote it down.

 **DuncanDonut** : Man, I can't believe Lilly and I missed out on so much news while we were stuck in freaking Napa.

 **LogieBear** : That's what you get for letting Celeste boss you guys around.

 **GeneralV** : Yeah, she'll do anything to get you guys away from the evil influence of the harlot's daughter.

 **FabuLilly** : As if she could! She should be more worried about her daughter the harlot.

 **GeneralV** : Lilly, you know what I said about talking about yourself that way.

 **FabuLilly** : Yes, yes, I know. "My fabulousness is too awesome to be contained by narrow minds."

 **GeneralV** : Damn right it is.

 **FabuLilly** : Anyway, here's what Darcy said: "He started babbling about renouncing the toxic death style of late-stage capitalist society and unremembering the consumer siren song." She said he was talking about composting.

 **GeneralV** : Well it does sound like he's no longer a slice off the loaf of shallow, vapid, pain-in-the-ass 09erdom.

 **FabuLilly** : And that's not all. Darcy thinks he's hooking up with Miss Mills, since they've been spending all their time together after he joined the editorial staff on the literary magazine. He's had "tutoring" sessions with her over the summer too.

 **GeneralV** : Pretty sure it's not true. Like I said, things point to Miss Mills being into the cult leader, Josh Martin.

 **FabuLilly** : Just repeating what I hear. I mean, I heard the rumors that were going around before school ended last year, but it must be pretty serious if people are still talking about it.

 **LogieBear** : Okay, that's definitely weird. Not the sleeping around thing, but the sudden interest in literature. The guy's been downloading essays online since the seventh grade. He used to think Cliffnotes were for intellectual posers. He thought Neruda was a brand of Mexican beer.

 **GeneralV** : Your literary snob colors are shining through, Logan. You really should transfer to AP English.

 **LogieBear** : And give up the facade of being, ah, what was that? Another slice off the loaf of shallow, vapid, pain-in-the-ass 09erdom… Of which we, or at least Lilly and I, continue to pretend to be.

 **GeneralV** : LOL. Verily so, Mr. Echolls. Duncan, you got anything?

 **DuncanDonut** : Varsity tryouts are next week. Baseball and soccer are both scheduled for Monday. If Logan goes to "support" me, he should get a good view of both, catch Luke in action.

 **LogieBear** : Sounds good. I'll bring the Casablancas boys and popcorn.

 **GeneralV** : Excellent. And Logan? You're in journalism with Duncan, right?

 **LogieBear** : Yep, the Donut persuaded me to take it.

 **GeneralV** : I'm gonna get the guidance counselor to assign me to that, so we'll at least have one class together. I'll let her know I'm joining the lit mag too, since I quit pep squad and FBLA. Don't want her using that as an excuse to freak out and call my dad in for a consultation/flirting session.

 **FabuLilly** : Ugh. Don't remind us. Watching Ms. James perv on your dad is almost as gross as watching my dad perv on your mom.

 **GeneralV** : Let's change the subject here. Please?

 **DuncanDonut** : Oh, thank god. And, to accommodate your request, thank god you're finally signing up for the paper. We need a decent photographer. Caitlyn Ford keeps trying to convince me her skill at taking selfies qualifies her for the job. She wouldn't know what to do with a DSLR if it came with a manual, and my shots are at least in focus, but nothing special.

 **GeneralV** : Ya know, most cameras actually DO come with manuals.

 **DuncanDonut** : Not a Caitlyn-friendly manual.

 **LogieBear** : No, that would be a picture book illustrating the letters of the alphabet.

 **DuncanDonut** : LOL

 **FabuLilly** : ROFL! You're sexy when you're mean, ex-boyfriend.

 **GeneralV** : Especially when it's deserved.

 **FabuLilly** : See? Veronica agrees. Hey, did you guys know Duncan here is now editor in chief of the Navigator? Daddy's so proud.

 **GeneralV** : Yeah! We're all proud, aren't we Lilly?

 **LogieBear** : Yeah, grats on getting dumped with extra work, dude.

 **DuncanDonut** : But this makes you MY minion, at least in the newspaper room, so guess who gets extra work right alongside me?

 **LogieBear** : Aw, fuck. Well, you better partner Ronnie and me up on stories.

 **GeneralV** : Anyway, I'll save you from your bad photos, Duncan, but you had better keep Caitlyn off my back. She keeps thinking she's sharpening her mean girl claws on me, when all she really does is give me a headache contemplating the lack of substance between her ears.

 **FabuLilly** : ROFL. This is why I love you, Veronica Mars. And don't you worry your pretty little head about Caitlyn Ford.

 **GeneralV** : Thanks, Lilly, but in case you forgot, you're supposed to be picking on me, not protecting me.

 **FabuLilly** : Speaking of which, Madison and Shelly were debating the benefits of bumping into you while carrying grape or orange soda over flushing your clothes in gym class.

 **GeneralV** : Hmm. Forewarned is forearmed, so I'll make sure to keep a spare set of clothes in my car. Encourage them toward flushing, if you please. I have Mac in my gym class, and Meg the next class over, and it might be useful to play on their sympathies.

 **DuncanDonut** : No messing with Meg.

 **GeneralV** : Relax, Duncan. I'll be sure to put in a good word for you.

 **FabuLilly** : He's got a plan. It's soooooo cheesy.

 **DuncanDonut** : That's my supportive older sister. Who refused to help me with said plan.

 **FabuLilly** : I'm not here to help you with your love life. I'm just here to beat her candy ass if she breaks your heart. That goes for you too, Logan.

 **LogieBear** : Huh? What?

 **FabuLilly** : You break Veronica's heart, I will end you.

 **LogieBear** : If I had Veronica's heart, you would never have to worry.

 **GeneralV** : ENOUGH, guys! Logan, you're just teasing me on purpose now. Let's wrap this up. My dad'll be calling me for dinner any minute now.

 **FabuLilly** : Yes, ma'am, GeneralV, ma'am!

 **GeneralV** : Logan, I need you to get your boys to mess with me. Sean Friedrich tripped me in the hallway today and John Enbom tried to pour his drink down my shirt, but that was just way too lame and unimaginative. If I thought you were behind it, I'd be ashamed of you.

 **LogieBear** : My minions are loyal and eager to please. Imagination, I'm afraid, is simply asking too much of them. Also, may I congratulate you on turning the tables on Enbom and getting him to pour his drink down his pants instead?

 **GeneralV** : Whatever. They need a visionary to lead them. So do better, King of the 09ers.

 **LogieBear** : Yes, ma'am.

 **GeneralV** : Also, I'm gonna need some help coming up with a fake literary portfolio if I'm joining the magazine. I'm gonna hold them off for a bit by saying I'm not really sure I'm ready to share yet. So can you hodgepodge together some emo poetry for me?

 **LogieBear** : How emo are we talking about?

 **GeneralV** : Enough to seem the type of troubled teen a cult would want to recruit? So go to town. Title one of the pieces something like "I cut because I can" or "I only bleed on the inside."

 **FabuLilly** : ROFL. If you wrote that for real, Ronica, I'd pay to publish it.

 **LogieBear** : LOL, seriously?

 **GeneralV** : Nah, but you get the picture.

 **DuncanDonut** : Logan, if you can write Veronica a poem titled "I cut because I can," I'll get you a copy of the new Grand Theft Auto game before it comes out.

 **LogieBear** : Challenge accepted, Mr. Kane. I'll even include the line "I only bleed on the inside," just to make things more interesting. As long as Veronica promises to copy it out in blood-red ink for submission.

 **GeneralV** : You guys are dorks. But you're totally on.

 **FabuLilly** : Where are you even gonna get a blood-red colored pen?

 **GeneralV** : My uncle Cliffy got me a 100-color gel ink pen set for my birthday last month. At least this will let me put it to good use.

 **FabuLilly** : I should have known.

 **GeneralV** : Yes, you should.

* * *

The following morning saw Veronica at the guidance counselor's office for a little start-of-year career tracking. She maintained her cheerful, peppy attitude when speaking with Rebecca James, knowing her dad had charmed the woman into keeping an eye on her and her friends.

So when Ms. James asked her why she had dropped both pep squad and the Future Business Leaders of America as extracurriculars, Veronica had an answer prepared.

"My dad and I were talking about what I wanted to do with my life, and I'm pretty interested in photography, journalism, and investigative work, so I wanted to try stuff that aligned with that to improve my chances of getting into the courses and colleges I'm interested in applying for."

"I think it's great that you're thinking ahead, even though you won't be applying to colleges until next year," Miss James said warmly. "Your dad must be so proud of you."

"That's what he says, mostly when he wants something."

"Oh, I'm sure he really is proud of you."

"Chill, Ms. James, I was joking. My dad's pretty great." _As well you know, considering you flirt with him any time you run into him when Mom's not around_.

"Oh." The woman fake-laughed, and Veronica struggled not to sneer at her poor acting skills. "Well, yes, I knew that. Ha, ha."

 _Lord, save me_. "So anyway I was thinking of signing up for journalism, then joining the school newspaper, and maybe that literary magazine Miss Mills runs."

"That sounds perfect, Veronica. We hired a new journalism teacher this year. Mallory Dent was a reporter in San Francisco before she moved down here. She really knows her stuff. She's also the adviser for the Neptune High Navigator this year. And yes, Holly Mills does run the literary magazine. I think you're in her AP English class?"

"Yes, I am."

"All right. I don't see a problem with approving a transfer to journalism class." The woman scribbled a note for her to give to Miss Dent and handed her an excuse slip for her first period. "Just fill up the forms for the change of schedule and submit them before the end of the day."

"Will do, Miss James."

Outside the guidance counselor's office, Veronica stopped, recognizing the figure leaning over the receptionist's desk.

"Veronica Mars! Give us a smile, luv!" Troy Vandegraff exclaimed in a bad British accent.

"Bite me, Vandegraff."

"I'd love to, Ms. Mars. Just tell me where."

Veronica was saved from having to reply when Troy's name was called. "Guess that's your cue to skedaddle."

"I'll catch up to you later, beautiful. I'm enrolling today, so we'll be seeing a lot more of each other from now on."

"Oh joy."

"Isn't it?"

Troy headed into Ms. James's office, and Veronica was glad to see the back of him. She collected the change of schedule form from the counter, and turned to go. In doing so, she almost ran snack dab into Wallace, who was rushing in.

"What are you doing here?"

"Oh, hey, Veronica. I signed up for diving, but there were only, like, four people in the class. So they canceled it, stuck me in here. So don't you mess with me, all right? I'm an office aide." Wallace struck a faux big-man-on-campus pose.

"That's great!" Veronica beamed at him, genuinely delighted that once more, things were going her way.

Wallace deflated. "Yeah? For who?"

"For me, of course!"

"How do you figure?"

Veronica was not about to tell him she was going to ask him to steal student files for her this early in the game. Besides, she didn't need any just yet. "Well, it's always good to have a guy with his ear to the ground in terms of what the school's got planned for its student horde."

"Uh huh."

"Anyway, I've been thinking about your problem."

"And what problem's that?"

"You know, the dead man walking thing?"

"Of course. How could I forget?"

"Yeah, well, I might have a way to get the PCHers off your back and see to a little agenda of my own while I'm at it."

"How?"

"I gotta check on something first, but I should have things fixed for you by Monday at the latest. The junior year art class meets fifth period, right?"

Wallace walked behind the counter, checked a file. "Yep."

"Cool. I'm on A lunch, and a guy I need to talk to is in that class and B lunch, which makes it the perfect time for me to drop in for some finagling."

"Why don't I go with you? You know we've got the same lunch, and if it's my ass that's being saved, I deserve to know what's going on."

"Erm, I don't think so."

Wallace crossed his arms. "What do you have planned?"

"Just leave it to me. Ta-ta now!"

Veronica strode out of the office, but not before she heard him mutter, "Yeah, I don't think so."

 _Gotcha_ , she thought, and walked back to class with a grin on her face.

* * *

AUTHOR'S NOTE: Sorry that this is an unusually long update! My chapters seem to be varying quite a bit in length. I also hope the chat format isn't too hard to read. If it is, and you have a recommendation as to how to make it better, do let me know! Next update is scheduled for 20 November 2018.

EDIT: Thank you, EllieBear, for your formatting recommendation! Hope it's easier to read now.


	7. Flushed from the Bathroom of Your Heart

**Chapter 7: Flushed from the Bathroom of Your Heart**

* * *

SUMMARY: The 09er girls fire their first volley. Veronica sets the beginning phase of her plan into motion.

* * *

Veronica was bored. Frankly, she expected more than the typical mean girl comments out of Lilly's posse and the slurs on her reputation from Logan's. So when, after fourth period gym class, she walked out of the shower area wrapped in nothing but a towel to see her locker open and empty, she had to suppress a smirk.

Pasting a frown on her face, she asked, "Where are my clothes?" No answer was forthcoming, so she deepened her frown into a full-on scowl and raised her voice. "Where are my clothes?"

A few of the girls in the room (Cindy "Mac" Mackenzie included, Veronica noticed) avoided her eyes and did their best to melt into the background. Others giggled and whispered to each other. Madison Sinclair and the rest of Lilly's posse snickered and sneered, and Veronica felt her eyes aching from the desire to roll at them.

The bell rang, and most of the girls in the room beat a hasty exit. Mac met Veronica's eyes and deliberately slid her gaze in the direction of the toilets. Veronica followed it, frowned, and looked back at the other girl, who grimaced and shrugged helplessly before making her way to the door.

When the other girls had left, Veronica walked over to the toilet area. One stall had its doors wide open, and Veronica was unsurprised to find her clothes soaking in literal eau de toilette.

She was staring down at the sopping mess when Meg—who wasn't even in her gym class—came flying into the locker room.

"Veronica! I just heard what happened! Did you find your clothes yet?" Veronica turned just as Meg caught sight of her clothes. "Ugh! The people here can be so awful."

Seeing Meg's upset on her behalf, Veronica remembered she was supposed to be upset herself, so she barely managed to twist her smile into a smirk. "Well, does this towel make me look fat?" she asked, batting her eyes and striking a pose.

Meg giggled. "You're taking this better than I would manage," she said.

"I'm smiling now, but there is rage in my heart and vengeance on my mind." Veronica bared her teeth.

"Well, I'm glad I'm not on your hit list," Meg said, laughing. "In the meantime, you need something to wear?"

* * *

Ten minutes later, Veronica and Meg walked out into the outdoor lunch area. Veronica was wearing Meg's cheerleader outfit, and she was actually surprised by how comfortable it turned out to be. Not that she would let that show on her face.

"I usually have sweats in my locker," Meg told her. "Sorry."

Veronica met her grimace with an awkward smile. "No, this is perfect. I just have to resist the urge to cartwheel. Or cheer."

Meg tilted her head toward the 09er table. "Why don't you come and have lunch with us? You're already dressed for the occasion."

"Yeah, why don't you come over, Ronnie?" Dick called out, while Enbom wolf-whistled at her. "You can sit in Beaver's lap."

"Why don't you give us a cheer, Veronica Mars?" This from a smirking Lilly.

Veronica raised her chin, then sent her secret sister a blinding grin. "Two, four, six, eight!" she cried, shaking imaginary pompoms. "Who will I obliterate?" She ended the "routine" with finger guns and a smirk. Then she shimmied her behind at the 09ers, winkinged at the boys and their catcalls.

"Thanks for the offer, Meg, but I should have a spare set of clothes in my car. I'll just change where it's safe. And I'll have your uniform washed and get it back to you tomorrow."

"No rush, I've got spares."

She smiled. "Thanks, Meg." A jaunty wave, and she headed in the direction of the parking lot, though not before making a detour to tell Wallace she'd be a little late. "Got my clothes flushed, gotta change."

Wallace did a double-take at the sight of her outfit. "Do I want to know?"

She sighed. "Nope," she said, popping the P.

"All right. Why don't I grab your lunch for you while you're seeing to your wardrobe situation?"

"Thanks, but it's all right. I doubt there'd be anything left that's edible at this point. When it comes to Neptune High cafeteria food, you snooze, you lose."

He grimaced at the thought of the lunch room's mystery meat. "I can imagine. But my mom made me sandwiches, and I'd be happy to share with a friend who's helping me out of a jam."

She smiled. "Don't give up, do you?"

"Nope." He popped the P in smiling mimicry of her.

"What kind of sandwich?"

It was chicken salad, and surprisingly hearty and delicious, she found later. As she ate, she felt the need to lay some hard facts on Wallace. "You know," she said, "if we get caught at any stage of my plan, it could mean a lot of trouble. I'd really suggest walking away at this point, when you have plausible deniability."

He frowned. "You think I'm gonna let you take a rap for me? I know we just met and all, but I gotta tell you—that's not gonna happen."

"It's not like I'm not getting anything out of it." She shrugged. "I'll admit, what happened with you helped me finesse some of the details, but I was going to do this, or something like it, with or without you."

"Maybe you should just quit with the vague warnings and just tell me what the plan is."

She tamped down on the urge to smile. "How about I dial you in on things as we progress from phase to phase?"

He sighed. "Fine. What's stage one?"

"Stage one is talking to a guy named Corny, who's in art class this period." She crumpled her empty sandwich wrapper into a ball and stood up. "Shall we?"

He stood up as well. "We shall."

Corny was probably the best known of Neptune High's stoners, his popularity borne of the fact that he provided both the weed and the munchies, as his after school job was as a pizza delivery guy. "Veronica," he said with a vague smile. "What can I do you for?"

Veronica opened up a notebook where she'd sketched the item she would need to set her plan into motion. "I need you to make me one of these."

His eyes widened when he saw what was on the page. "Oh my god," he said. "This is so twisted. I love it."

"Well, can you do it? Cause we need it fast."

"I just never would've figured you for the type."

"It's not for me. I owe someone a little revenge, and this is the dish I'll be serving it on."

"Sweet." He started flipping through the pages, obviously disappointed she hadn't drawn any more designs for him to try out.

"So is it a go?"

"Oh hell yeah! For you? Oh, anything! I'll even throw in the glazing gratis."

"Go to town. Thanks, Corny." She dragged Wallace out of the art room. "It shouldn't take him more than a day or two."

"You sure? He doesn't seem altogether that reliable."

Veronica smirked. "Maybe not for anyone. But he likes me, and he owes me a few favors for getting him out of jams over the past couple of years. So he'll get it done."

Wallace frowned. "So this is like a thing for you? Helping people out of the trouble they get themselves into?"

She shrugged. "I'm good at it."

"Of course you are."

* * *

The rest of the day was uneventful. That is, until Veronica walked into the Journalism room at the start of the last period. She purposefully came in just a little bit late, and class was in full swing by the time she opened the door and stepped through it.

The teacher was young, and someone Veronica didn't recognize. Still the skirt-and-cardigan combo identified her as the obligatory adult in the room. So Veronica stepped forward until she gained the teacher's—Ms. Dent's, according to the sign on the door—attention.

"Can I help you with something?" the woman asked.

"Ah, yeah, the guidance counselor transferred me in here," Veronica said. "Resume padding for college, and all that jazz."

The teacher was looking over her transfer slip when a tall, skinny blond called her name. She turned. "Caitlyn?"

The Paris Hilton wannabe clutched a magazine like no one would notice it wasn't a notebook, and did her best to look professional. Which might've worked better if she hadn't jutted out her hip and struck a pose as she spoke. "I'm gonna go down to the gym to talk to people for the student poll."

Veronica looked to the side, the better to suppress any urges to smirk at Caitlyn Ford, whom even Duncan couldn't stand for long periods of time. In fact, seeing as the girl had emerged from the cubicle labeled Editor-in-Chief, Veronica suspected Duncan had suggested the activity just to get her out of his hair.

She met Logan's eyes from where he was sitting at the back of the room. He glanced around, saw no one was looking, and sent her an exaggerated eye roll. Veronica pressed her lips together against a laugh.

Ms. Dent checked her wristwatch. "Be back by the end of the period," she said. "And remember that we are a multicultural school with a diverse population of students from a wide range of socioeconomic backgrounds."

Veronica watched Caitlyn's face, watched her eyes glaze and her face slacken in non-comprehension. Too many big words, too few brain cells. "Meaning?" the girl asked, pouting.

"Meaning," Ms. Dent said on a sigh, "don't just interview your friends."

With a sigh of her own and a roll of her eyes, Caitlyn left the room. Ms. Dent turned back to her with a smile. "So, Veronica," she said perkily, then placed her fists on her waist. "Welcome to newspaper class."

Veronica saw Duncan's head pop up over the side of his cubicle, the way he glanced to either side then shot her a quick, delighted grin before ducking back down to focus on whatever work he was doing. She remembered what he'd said about the desperate need for photographers. "I was thinking," she said, pausing to lend an air of hesitancy to her act, "maybe I could just take pictures?"

"Well, I'm not sure if you can just do that, but we can start you there. Do you have any experience with a camera?"

"Yeah. Some."

"Okay, follow me." Ms. Dent led her to one of the lockers on the side of the room. She pulled out a set of keys and opened it, pulling out a mirrorless camera. "This is a 35-mm camera. Now my suggestion as you're starting out is to just to set it on auto, and that way you—"

Veronica grimaced as she looked at the camera the teacher was holding. "I'd really be more comfortable if I could just use my own camera," she said, pulling out her Nikon. "Um, the swivel LCD really comes in handy when you're doing overhead shooting or ground-level macro shooting."

"Right."

She watched the teacher blink, stare, and blink again. Decided to show off a little. "The optical zoom actually goes up to 71.2-mm, and it's good to have the RAW file option because you can mess with the images post-exposure without nearly the loss of image quality you get with a JPEG file."

Ms. Dent shook her head, blinked again. "And when it's dark outside," she said, her face completely innocent, "you should use a flash." She laughed, and Veronica smiled, deciding that she liked this teacher. "I have your first assignment. Are you free after school tomorrow?"

Inwardly, Veronica raised her eyebrows. If Dent was bumping off another photographer or if they didn't have a photographer for a shoot scheduled for the next day, they were definitely as hard up as Duncan had implied. "I guess."

"We're doing a feature on Bodie Chang. Do you know him?"

"Surfer. If I hadn't transferred in here, I would've been in study hall with him."

"That's the guy. So he's been winning all these competitions. He's got another one up at Gold Coast. Let me introduce you to the guy who's doing the story." She led Veronica to the cubicle marked Editor-in-Chief. As they approached, two pairs of eyes—one blue, one green—looked up. "Duncan Kane, this is Veronica."

Duncan obviously didn't know what to do with his face, because he blinked at her and stared fixedly ahead, his features blanking. Lilly, who was huddled in the chair next to him, looked at him, then rolled her eyes. Ms. Dent was oblivious, however, charging forward in excitement. "Veronica's going to be taking pictures tomorrow. And I arranged for you guys to ride with Bodie's parents."

"Oh, Ms. Dent!" Lilly said, putting on a show of dismay. "Duncan can't make it tomorrow."

Duncan blinked at her. "I can't?"

"No, you can't, silly. You have that doctor's appointment? Mom moved it up from Saturday."

"She did?" Veronica bites down on the urge to grin at her siblings as Lilly attempts eye-communication with her brother and it takes a moment for Duncan to get that she's lying through her teeth. "Oh, uh, I must've forgotten, Ms. Dent."

"Oh, um, this is rather late notice, Duncan." Ms. Dent frowned.

"Logan can do it," Lilly said sunnily. "We broke up, you know, so I'm sure he's got nothing but time on his hands. And you know what they say about idle hands and teenage boys." Lilly made a jacking off movement that had the journalism teacher flushing.

"Gee, thanks, Lil. You're just making me even gladder I've ditched you." Logan had come over to stand on Ms. Dent's other side.

"Logan," she said, "are you okay to do this assignment?"

"Interview Bodie?" He shrugged. "Yeah, sure. I actually know the guy a little better than Duncan does, since we surf together on weekends."

"Great—"

"I'm not gonna hitch a ride with anyone, though." His tone of voice and expression clearly were meant to show he was not willing to ride with Veronica. "I'll drive."

Ms. Dent remained cutely oblivious. "Great!" she said. "Maybe Veronica can—"

"I can drive too," Veronica said abruptly, face tight.

"Okay," Ms. Dent said, waving a hand. "Oil crisis be damned."

Veronica suppressed a chuckle as the teacher flounced away, then smirked at the rest of the Fab 4 before turning on her heel and grabbing a seat for herself, taking the quiet time to outline the rest of her plan for the next few days.

* * *

Once school was out, Veronica checked her phone. She was disappointed to find that her father had left a text saying he had to fly out for an unexpected meeting on the East Coast, and that he'd be back on Friday.

When she arrived home, she was unsurprised to see a note on the kitchen table in her mom's messy cursive. Out with girl friends tonight. Lasagna in the fridge, just heat in microwave for dinner. Veronica sighed, knowing the first sentence was a lie and the second sentence a bribe.

Grabbing an apple from the fruit bowl, she opened up her laptop so she could work on her case logs for the many projects the Fab 4 was determined to complete before Lilly graduated at the end of the year.

It was just growing dark when her phone rang. She recognized Lilly's ringtone. "Yellow," she said after putting the call on speaker. It wasn't like there was anyone else in the house to hear her, anyway.

"Veronica Mars!"

"That's my name, don't wear it out."

"Ugh, could you be any lamer?" Lilly teased. "No, I take that back. I loved that little cheer you did at lunch!"

Veronica rolled her eyes. "Of course you did. Seriously, though. Flushing my clothes? That's kind of junior high of you, isn't it?"

"Wasn't me, Ronica, though I let Madison give me the credit for it."

"Well, you know if you're going to take the credit, you're also going to get the heat."

"Why not take on Madison?" The pout comes loud and clear through the airwaves.

"Because Madison is a pawn and everyone knows it. I wanna make a change, I gotta take on the queen herself."

"Well, then, little sister, bring it on."

"I will, Lil. Bet on it."

"I'll remind you that you are not the only Kane sibling who can scheme."

"First off, I may be your sister, but I'm a Mars, loud and proud. Second, what the heck was up with that whole Duncan-needs-to-see-the-doctor thing in Journalism today?"

Lilly hummed tunelessly for a sec. "Duncan found something out that had us worrying. Nothing urgent _yet_ , but something we might wanna plan for. Logan will explain it to you tomorrow while you're taking pictures."

Veronica frowned. "What is it? And why couldn't Duncan have told me, if he's the one who found something out?"

"Because Logan and I have a plan, or maybe it's a counterplan? Whatever. Logan would explain it better, and he'd be able to work with you on any tweaks you have better than Duncan can. You know this. My brother is good at many things, but scheming isn't one of them."

"Fine. Better tell Logan to expect an interrogation tomorrow."

"He should expect nothing less, sister-mine! You're Veronica Mars!"

* * *

AUTHOR'S NOTE: Next post will be a longer one, and it's scheduled for November 30, though I'll be out of town then so I might post it a day or two early if I can get my edits done by then.


	8. The Kind of Club Where You'd Belong

**Chapter 8: The Kind of Club Where You'd Belong**

* * *

SUMMARY: Veronica engages in extracurricular activities.

* * *

Another morning, another batch of names for her revenge list, Veronica decided as she peeled off the "art" from her locker door. The 09er girls had printed out photos of her and drawn on them rather crudely. One photo had given her a rather impressive penis. Another had drawn devil horns on her head and given her a tail. Yet another had colored her eyes red and sharpened her incisors, drawing in a high collar and cape to complete her transformation into fem!Dracula.

The effort put into the drawings was pretty admirable, actually. And, in its own way, charming. Veronica took care not to rip the pages, deciding to keep them for posterity. Maybe even frame them.

She looked at the graffiti drawn in Sharpie on the bright yellow surface of her locker. This bit of decoration was far less charming. The words "skank" and "sult" (really, was it too much to hope people could at least spell their insults properly?) were scrawled across it in black ink. She sighed, glad she'd had the foresight to pack a bottle of nail polish remover and a rag into her locker emergency kit.

She pulled the items out and got to work.

She had gotten most of the word "skank" off when she heard an outraged voice behind her.

"Who the fuck did this?" Logan demanded.

Veronica could see from the shadows on the floor that he wasn't alone, so she held her tongue.

"Dunno," Dick Casablancas said. "Not me."

"I should hope not." There was a dangerous edge to Logan's voice, and Veronica rolled her eyes. She knew he knew better than to break character, so she had a feeling she knew what was coming.

As if on cue, a long arm reached over her head. She glanced up to see Logan was holding a Sharpie of his own, this one in red. He drew arrows above and below the letters "U" and "L" in "sult." Then he drew an oblong around the word and added the letters "S" and "P."

She resisted the urge to roll her eyes. Trust Logan to use actual editing marks to correct the graffiti on her locker.

"There," he said. "All fixed."

"Why, thank you kindly." Veronica adopted a condescending tone as she turned to face him. She took a step back, leaning against her locker, when she found herself virtually nose-to-chest with the King of the 09ers. She hadn't realized he'd been standing so close. He was leaning against the locker next to hers, and damned if the boy couldn't trademark that pose. She licked lips gone suddenly dry, pretended she didn't see his eyes dart down to follow the movement of her tongue. "I had been despairing of the quality of language education, and you've restored some hope that not all Neptune High students have the spelling skills of first graders."

Logan's eyes lit with amusement, but he smirked and said, "Always happy to oblige, Ronnie."

"Just for that, I'll leave it there for the rest of the day," she offered magnanimously.

"It certainly livens up that piss-yellow locker of yours."

Veronica chuckled. "For someone whose car is the exact same color, you sure do hate on our school colors. And, FYI, your locker is as piss-yellow as mine. As is that of every student in this school."

"Hey, my baby's a beauty. You must be blind as well as a skank and a 'sult.'"

"Logan, it's a fat banana on wheels."

"Just goes to show what poor taste you have."

"Pot. Kettle."

There was a loud sigh from just past Logan's shoulder. Veronica looked over to see Dick Casablancas standing there, rolling his eyes. "Ronnie, you know Logan doesn't do pot. He's 100-percent a booze kind of guy."

Logan turned toward the locker he was leaning on and thunked his forehead on the metal. "Dick, it's not that kind of pot."

Veronica smirked. "Logan, you know Dick doesn't do idioms. He's 100-percent a literal kind of guy. Metaphors have a tendency to fly over his head."

Dick crossed his arms and frowned. "If things are gonna fly over anyone's head, shorty, it's gonna be yours."

Veronica pressed her lips together to hold back a laugh. "Why, yes, Dick, I'm aware of my lack of height. Sadly, you don't seem to be aware of your lack of neural synapses."

Confusion slackened Dick's face, but he nevertheless opened his mouth to reply. Logan detached his head from the locker and glanced back at him. "Dick, stop talking. You're just giving her more ammo against you." He executed a flamboyant bow before Veronica, complete with hand twirl and crossed ankles. "Your bitchiness. Don't forget we have that interview for the newspaper later. Mess up my pictures and you will see why an Echolls tops Hollywood's do-not-cross list."

Smirking, she inclined her head regally as the bell rang. "Your royal doucheyness. I will be there, and my photos will blow you away. Better give good interview or you'll see why the President calls a Mars when he needs to put someone in their place."

He saluted her mockingly as he walked past her, the other boys falling in behind him like a good little posse.

* * *

AP English, taught by Holly Mills, was Veronica's first class of the day. She made her way to the front of the room at the end of class, and Ms. Mills smiled at her. "What can I do for you, Veronica?"

Veronica frowned and bit her lip, hugging her books to her chest. "Um, I was talking to Ms. James yesterday about my plans for college. I'm interested in pursuing a journalism course, so I signed up for newspaper class, but was also thinking of joining the literary magazine. Ms. James said you were in charge of it."

The English teacher smiled at her. "We'd absolutely love to have you! I didn't know you were interested in writing, although of course your classwork has always been excellent."

"Thanks," Veronica said, worrying her lip a bit. "I'm kind of new to the, uh, writing. I mean, I was mostly into photography before, and that's what I'm starting out with in journalism class, but I, uh, have some things going on, ah, personally, and I've found that writing has helped me process stuff."

Ms. Mills' smile was kind and not at all like that of a deranged cultist. Then again, she could just be a great actress. Though Veronica was no slouch as a thespian herself; the teacher showed every evidence of falling for Veronica's act. "I did notice you seemed to be a little more of a loner than I remember you being, and certainly your aesthetic is… quite different from last year's."

Veronica shrugged, refusing to meet the older woman's eyes in a way she hoped would read as defensive. "You've probably heard Lilly and Logan and I had a falling out. I'm tired of being Lilly's little handmaiden. Also, I hated pep squad."

Ms. Mills opened her mouth to reply, but the warning bell for the next period rang. "I'll let you get to your next class, but come see me after school ends, okay? The lit mag isn't big enough to get its own room like the school paper does, so we meet here."

Veronica frowned. "I have an assignment for the newspaper I don't think I can get out of."

"That's fine. How about tomorrow morning before school starts, then? We've got a writing buddy system going, and I'll assign you to someone you can bounce ideas off of and maybe be critique partners with."

She grimaced. "Um. I'm really new at this writing thing. I'm not sure I'm ready to share anything I've actually written just yet. But I'm happy to help with layouts or photos or anything you need while I, um, learn a little bit about writing strategies and gather up my courage, I guess."

The teacher smiled and patted her on the shoulder. "That's perfectly understandable, Veronica," she said, earnestness all but punching Veronica in the face. Either this woman was a dupe for her cult or Hollywood missed out on Oscar-winning material, because really, she was every inch the concerned educator. "How about I assign you a buddy who has had some issues divorcing himself from his previous social circle as well? He'll understand what you're going through, and he's currently without a partner as well. I think you could be good for each other."

 _Perfect_. Veronica had checked the list of the literary mag's current staff and knew only Casey Gant fit that description. She was surprised the woman was going to pair her up with her target without any prompting, but then again, her dad used to say that solving a case was 90% hard work and 10% sheer dumb luck.

"He?" she asked hesitantly. "It's not one of Logan's friends, is it? Though I don't think any of them are in the magazine."

"No, no, no worries there. It's Casey Gant, actually. Do you know him?"

Veronica frowned. "A little? He used to hang with us, but not in the past few months. Come to think of it, I can't remember the last time I saw him at an 09er party."

Ms. Mills smiled kindly. "He's been reorienting his life's path and goals a bit in the past six months or so," she says. "Seems like a situation you'd be familiar with?"

 _Is reorienting like brainwashing?_ Veronica smiled weakly in return. "I guess. It'd be good to catch up, I guess, if he's not hanging with the 09er crew. I don't have many friends these days."

The teacher put a hand on her shoulder, squeezed it comfortingly. "I'm sure he'd love to have a friend who understands as well. Like I said, I think you could be good for each other."

"Thanks, Ms. Mills," Veronica said, smiling gratefully, before glancing at the clock and wincing. "I really gotta go now, though! I'll see you tomorrow!" She called out a farewell and made a show of rushing to her AP Calc class.

There actually was a reason for her hurry. Two people of interest were in her next class: Wallace Fennel and Mac Mackenzie. As luck would have it, both were sitting in the third row, with an empty chair between them. She slipped into the seat just as the teacher was doing the roll call, winking at Wallace and smiling shyly at Mac.

She wondered if the planets had aligned today, as their teacher wrote six equations on the board and instructed the students to form groups of three and come up with word problems for each equation by the end of class.

Veronica glanced at Wallace and nodded at him, getting a nod in return. Then she turned to Mac. "Hi! Your name is Cindy, right?" she asked, as if she didn't know perfectly well the other girl abhorred using her first name. "I'm Veronica Mars. Would you like to join Wallace and me for this activity? I promise we'll both pull our weight."

The girl smiled shyly back, tugging at the blue streak in her hair and twisting it nervously. "I know who you are." She flicked her gaze to Wallace. "Nice to meet you, and I'll happily join you on two conditions: one, you call me Mac, and two, we work on two problems each then check each other's work."

"Deal," Wallace said, grinning, crossing his arms at the wrist so he could offer a hand to each of the girls, who grinned and shook on it.

"I feel like this could be the start of a beautiful friendship," Veronica said, adopting some of Logan's dramatics.

"Hold your horses there, supafly," Wallace teased. "It's just math."

"Seconded," Mac said with a smirk. "I am withholding anything beyond good groupmate behavior until you have proven that you don't suck."

Veronica laughed. "I knew I would like you guys. Let's move our chairs closer and get to work."

* * *

The rest of her day went pretty much as planned. She started her lunch hour by checking in with Corny before he went into art class, and he told her he'd have her item for her by the end of the day. She told him she had a class assignment she couldn't miss and he'd lowered his voice and said, "That's fine. I'll leave it in my locker. You probably already know the combination, with how many times you've saved me from the rando inspections. Just grab it before the next one."

She smiled and didn't confirm or deny, but he offered her a fist, and she bumped it with her own.

At lunch, Sean Friedrich spat out a wad of gum at her as he passed, and she had cause to thank her lucky stars she'd gotten her hair cut so short. She dodged enough so that she didn't get it in her hair, but it landed in the shoulder of her sweater. Fortunately, she'd bought an iced lemonade from the cafeteria and was able to fish out an ice cube to freeze the gum and pull it off her jacket with no damage to her clothing and minimal damage to her dignity. She added "Friedrich" to her mental (s)hitlist.

Wallace stared at her from across their lunch table as she made a disgusted face and used some tissue to make sure she wouldn't have to actually touch any of the gum. "You're surprisingly chill about this," he said.

"Revenge is a dish best served cold," Veronica said, and let some of that coldness show on her face.

Wallace's gaze fixed on a spot over her shoulder. "Looks like you just got it, by proxy."

His words were confirmed by a loud yelp. "What the fuck?"

Veronica turned to see Sean Friedrich jumping out of his seat, trying to pull gum out of his hair as he glared at Norris Clayton. The large, dark-haired teen was standing with his arms crossed, completely unconcerned by the fact that two of the 09er guys had risen as well. Veronica frowned. She recognized the boy; he'd been a classmate since junior high and went to kenpo classes in the same dojo she took her krav maga classes in.

"Clayton." Logan's voice was a study in boredom. "What's this about?"

The whole quad had gone silent. The burly teen tensed when Logan spoke, but didn't back down. Veronica looked at him with curiosity. "Justice," Norris said. "Thought I'd see if he liked getting other people's spit on him, since he seems determined to put his on random girls minding their own business."

Logan's eyes narrowed dangerously at the other boy's words. "So this is about girls in general?" He paused. "Or is this about Veronica Mars?"

Norris's eyes flicked toward Veronica, and she frowned in confusion. She'd rarely even spoken to the boy, and he'd certainly never gone out of his way to speak to her, as far as she could recall. So either she was a convenient excuse for some sort of crusade he'd decided to take up, or she was missing something here. "My mama taught me to treat women better than that," he said calmly. "As Friedrich's mother can't be bothered, I thought I'd help with his education."

Logan arched a single skeptical eyebrow, but he glanced her way, and she let her displeasure show on her face. He smirked, and turned his attention back to Norris. "Noted," he said, then waved a hand. His thugs stepped back. "Carry on then."

"Logan, what the fuck?" Sean howled. "I've got fucking gum in my fucking hair."

"So I see."

"You're just gonna let him go?"

"It seems that way, doesn't it?"

"You can't just let this slide!"

"Can't I." It was not a question. Logan's voice had taken on a harsh, growly clarity that pulled at Veronica's stomach.

"People will think you're dickless!"

"On the contrary." She could hear amusement in Logan's tone, but it was hard-edged. "I'm sure my lovely ex-girlfriend will attest that I remain in possession of a rather impressive piece of equipment, if I do say so myself."

"It's definitely one of his few assets," Lilly drawled obligingly. "It's certainly large enough to cast a shadow over many of his failings."

"Thank you, milady," Logan said sardonically, saluting Lilly as she grinned lasciviously. "Anyhow, as a second point, if I turned to Dick Casablancas, like so, and said 'jump,' what would you say, Dick?"

"How high?" Dick filled in obligingly. Veronica rolled her eyes.

"Good boy." Logan nodded approvingly, then turned back toward Sean. "So as you can see, the argument could be made that not only am I not 'dickless,' but that I am in possession of not one, but two."

"Two what?" Dick asked, frowning.

Logan smirked. "Dicks."

The effort expended into not rolling physically hurt Veronica's eyeballs.

"I'm just gonna go then," Norris mumbled.

"No, you are not!" Sean said. "We're going to fuck you up."

"Oh yeah? You and what army?" Veronica wondered why she had never before realized what an asset Norris Clayton could be to the Fab Four. Or how he could've flown under her radar for so long.

It was then that Sean realized the other 09ers had distanced themselves from him, and he was now standing toe-to-toe with a guy twice his size and rumored to be heavily into martial arts. Norris stepped forward, getting into the smaller boy's space with a hint of menace in his demeanor. Veronica smirked when Sean took two steps back.

"That's what I thought," Norris said calmly, then walked away.

Everyone was staring at Sean Friedrich, who was red in the face. He turned to Logan, face furious. "What the fuck, Logan? I thought you had my back. You left me hanging! And for what? Veronica Mars?"

"The man did say it wasn't about her," Logan said, putting on a show of lazily inspecting his fingernails. "And it wasn't, at least not for me."

Veronica glanced around. Everyone was fixated on the two boys. She saw Lilly catch Logan's eye and mouth the word "liar" to him. She rolled her eyes. They really needed to do a better job of pretending to hate each other.

"So what the fuck is this about?" Sean demanded. His fury would be more impressive if he didn't have one end of the gum stuck to his fingers and the other still in his hair.

"It's about what happens to 09ers who don't follow my orders," Logan drawled.

Sean paled. "But I—"

"I may not be fond of Veronica Mars at the moment—" and at this, Logan glanced at Veronica, smirking when he saw her glare "—but I'll decide in my own time what I want to do about that. In the meantime, did I or did I not tell you not to engage?"

Veronica's eyebrows soared at that. What the heck was Logan doing?

"You did," Sean mumbled.

"And what did you do?"

"Engaged. But Logan—"

"But Logan, nothing. Next time, you'll do what I say, won't you?" Logan's voice was silky as Satan's. Veronica didn't know what game he was playing, but she knew enough to see he was playing it masterfully. She glanced at Duncan. He raised one shoulder. So Logan's best friend didn't know what he was up to either. Lilly was watching with a delighted and slightly evil smile that told Veronica some of what she needed to know.

"But Lilly said—"

"If you would like to be one of Lilly Kane's army of skanks," Logan said mildly, "I suggest you sit at her table."

"Sorry, Logan," Lilly said airily. "I'm too fabulous to take your rejects, and besides, he doesn't have the right equipment to be one of my handmaidens."

"I guess that leaves my way or the highway," Logan said thoughtfully, raising his eyebrows at Sean. "Now, Veronica has opted for the highway, it seems."

"I've got the wheels for it," Veronica retorted.

Logan smirked. "We'll see about that." He turned back to Sean. "So what'll it be, Friedrich? Whose word is law around here, if anyone were to ask you?"

"Yours, Logan," Sean said.

"Good," Logan said. "Now, sit. Unless you want to ask Veronica for tips on how to get gum out of things, as she seems to have divested herself of your gift from earlier."

She was not going to rain on his parade, much as she would like to take him to task for not cluing her in to the new script he had written into their narrative. So she gave him a one finger salute, which he acknowledged with a nod.

"Evidently she has no desire to be helpful," he observed.

"Strange, for Veronica Mars," Lilly said. "Maybe she's been body snatched."

"Fuck you too, Lilly Kane," Veronica snapped.

"I'll pencil you in if you like, Ronica."

Veronica shook her head, turned her attention back to her food. "Idiots, the lot of them," she said to Wallace, who was staring at her, mouth open.

He grinned. "I'll say one thing about you, Veronica Mars," he said. "Life around you definitely isn't boring."

"Stick around, kid, ya ain't seen nothing yet."

* * *

After she'd left the lunch area, Veronica camped out in the ground floor girls' bathroom and shot Logan a text message. _What the heck was that, Logan Echolls?!_

Less than a minute later, her phone beeped with his reply. _Patience, grasshopper. All will be revealed in due time._

She growled as she typed a retort. _This better be good._

 _I'll explain on the way to Gold Coast._

Rolling her eyes, she tapped out, _Taking different cars. Not supposed to be friends, remember?_

 _I'll fix it so you gotta ride with me. DK will help._

She sighed as the bell rang, deciding to trust him. He was, after her, the best strategist in the group. And they wouldn't have changed the plan if it weren't important.

Her curiosity about what was going on kept her distracted for the rest of the day, so it was with surprise that she stared at the flattened wheel of her car after school was over. Although she supposed she should be grateful whoever had done Logan's bidding had let the air out of the tire instead of slashing it.

She felt several eyes on her, so she sighed, took off her sunglasses and jacket, and opened the back of her car so she could retrieve her jack and spare tire. She'd started to loosen the nuts on the bolts of the flattened wheel when someone approached. She knew it wasn't Logan or Duncan, and she could tell from his shoes it was a male, but she didn't look up.

"Flat?" Great. Troy Freaking Vandegraff. She was not in the mood to deal with his BS.

"Just as God made me," she snarked back. Really, he could see the flat from where he was standing. _Does he have to ask the obvious?_ Inwardly, she rolled her eyes. _Yes, of course he does._

He crouched down beside her. "Are you always this persnickety?"

"Sometimes I'm even persnickety-er. I'm supposed to be taking surf competition photos in Gold Coast in thirty minutes, and it's going to take at least that to get this tire changed."

"Well, here." He held out a hand. "I mean, let me help you."

She stared at his hand. Wondered what kind of drugs he'd handled with them. Cautiously, she placed the tire iron in it.

"So what's going on?" he asked, starting to work on the nuts on her wheel.

"As you're already working on the wheel, I would hope I don't need to explain the dynamics of flat tires and how cars won't run on them."

"Ha, ha, very funny. I mean, what's going on with you and Echolls and the Kanes? Last time I was here, you were lady-in-waiting to Neptune's crown princess. Now half the people I've talked to have warned me against associating with the wrong sort of people. It took me a while to realize that when they said Trampy McBitch, they meant you." He raised an eyebrow. "Did you undergo a name change without telling me?"

"No such luck. Just a friend change."

Just then, Logan passed by, posse at his heels. The boys had been joined by the likes of Madison Sinclair and Caitlyn Ford. He stopped, did an exaggerated double-take, slipping his eyebrows down his nose to sneer at Veronica and Troy. "Flat tire? Bummer."

"Logan, want to see my new Vespa?" Caitlyn laid a hand on his arm, and he turned to the skinny Paris Hilton wannabe.

"I'd love to," he deadpanned. "But I've got to head to the Gold Coast for a journalism assignment."

Veronica glared at him. "Well, Logan, it looks like I'm gonna be a little late for the—"

"Logan! Veronica!" They looked over to see Duncan headed their way.

"What's up, chief?" Logan asked, leaning against the back of Veronica's car.

"Why are you guys still here? The competition is going to start soon! If you don't go now, you'll miss it, and I won't have a front-page story for the next issue of the Navigator." Veronica made a note to review some acting basics with Duncan. He was probably trying to look frustrated, but he looked constipated more than anything else. Although she supposed that was a form of frustration.

Veronica stared at her brother. "Um," she said, and gestured toward the tire.

"Go ahead," Troy said, surprising her. "If you have a spare set of keys, I'll finish this up and lock your car up for you, give you your keys in the morning."

"Chivalry's not dead!" Duncan announced, clapping Troy on the back. "Good to know." Veronica frowned at him, but he ignored her. "In fact, let me help you."

"If you two think I'm gonna leave you guys with the keys to my car, you're dumber than you look," Veronica said, rolling her eyes. "Just leave it. I'll deal with it later."

Logan let out a huge sigh. "I suppose it now behooves me to offer you a ride," he said, reluctance in his voice.

"It does," Duncan said firmly.

"Fine," Logan snapped. "Veronica, let's go."

She smiled apologetically at Troy, took the tire iron back and put it in the back of her SUV, grabbing her bag with the camera as she did. Then she closed the back door and engaged the locks.

"Thanks, Troy."

"I didn't actually do anything."

"You were going to try," she said, smiling. "So you get points for the effort."

"If you two will stop flirting now, I'll hold off on puking," Logan drawled.

"You both need to get going," Duncan said, shooing them toward Logan's car. He clapped a hand on Troy's shoulder. "Come on, Troy, let's grab some grub."

"Don't you have a doctor's appointment?" Veronica asked.

"Got postponed. Don't know why."

Veronica opened her mouth to retort but Logan bit out, "Come on, Veronica. Let's get this over with."

She smirked. "Fine, Logan. Let's go."

They put on a show of being disgruntled with the situation. They kept it up all the way onto the PCH, where Veronica finally turned to Logan. "Okay, tell me what's going on."

He sighed and tightened his grip on the steering wheel so his knuckles turned white. "It's Troy," he said finally.

She facepalmed. "Not this again, Logan."

He shook his head, staring out at the road in front of them. "I don't mean it like that. DK says he was boasting about how he had Liquid X with him and how it'd make any girl amenable to doing whatever they were told to do, especially sexually."

"Fuck." Veronica leaned back in her seat. "Liquid X?" She scrubbed a hand down her face. "Fuck."

Logan nodded. "That's pretty much what I said, when I heard."

"I'm going to kill him."

"Not if I get to him first." Logan's threat was uttered so quietly, Veronica stilled at his words.

"Leave it alone, Logan," she warned him.

"Or what?"

"Or you run the risk of compromising my plans to get Troy arrested with a bunch of drugs in his possession to pile on the charges."

His whole body relaxed. "I should've known you would have a plan for him."

"Yes, you should have," Veronica told him. "So tell me the reasoning behind that scene at lunch today."

He sighed. "Lilly and I talked it over," he said, "and we really don't want people thinking they have free reign to target you without us giving the green light, especially with what some of the 09er girls are planning and this new development with Troy."

Veronica frowned. "I can handle them."

"It's more that some of their plans may have collateral damage."

She blew out a frustrated breath. "Of course they would. Let me guess. Madison, Shelly, Kimmy, and Caitlyn?"

He smirked. "You know them so well. Anyway, so our plan is, you and I are going to observe a less-than-amicable armistice, which will let me put on a show of pulling your sister back a little. Lilly doesn't want those bitches getting too big for their britches. Meanwhile, on the Troy problem, people will know there's some shit I just won't tolerate. I'm not running the risk of letting you get drugged just so you can perfect your narrative."

"I'm not particularly interested in getting roofied, either." Then a thought struck. "Although if we could get evidence—"

The X-terra veered to the side of the road and Logan pulled to an abrupt stop. "No," he said, his voice steely. "You are not going to let yourself get roofied just to make sure Troy fucking Vandegraff gets what's coming to him."

"I didn't—"

"I'll pull Lilly and Duncan into this if I have to," he warned. "There is no fucking way, Veronica. First of all, you're tiny. That makes your risk of getting overdosed even worse than like a normal-sized person."

She scowled. "Hey."

"Second," he said as if he hadn't heard her, "it's entrapment."

"Fine. Don't smirk. Just drive."

He did smirk, but she decided to let it pass.

* * *

NOTE: I know I said I'd post this on the 30th, so this is a couple of days early, but I've some traveling to do in the next few days, and I thought better early than late. Next update's scheduled for 10 December 2018.


	9. Know Your Business

**Chapter 9: Know Your Business**

* * *

SUMMARY: Logan proposes a fake relationship. Veronica shoots him down.

* * *

When they arrived at the beach where the surfing competition was being held, there was a small crowd already gathered, including a few from the Neptune High surfing circle.

"Remember, we're not quite friends, even if you've supposedly gotten over being really pissed at me," Veronica reminded Logan as they climbed out of his X-Terra.

"Aye, aye, cap'n," he replied, tipping an invisible hat. With his superior height, he was quick to spot Bodie Chang and his parents and amble over, Veronica trotting after him.

"Logan." Bodie held out a fist, which Logan obligingly bumped. "I thought Duncan was gonna be interviewing me today."

"He had a doctor's appointment, forgot about it til Lilly reminded him yesterday, so I'm pinch-hitting. Alas, my days of coasting through this class on charm alone appear to be over." Bodie laughed, and Veronica cleared her throat pointedly. "Oh, yeah. This is Veronica Mars. She's your paparazzi today."

Veronica rolled her eyes. "Photographer, actually," she said primly, gesturing to the camera slung around her neck.

Bodie smiled easily. "Cool. I've seen you around school."

"Likewise. Anyway, I want to get a few action shots when you're on the water, but would love to take a few here on the beach. I can do it while Logan's interviewing you if you're not comfortable posing."

The surfer's smile sharpened. "I'm happy to pose. Want me to take the top off my wetsuit?"

"While I'm sure the Neptune High Navigator's readers would appreciate that shot, I doubt the school will let us print it," Logan cut in, acid in his tone, his gaze narrowed, and not just from the bright afternoon sun. Veronica wasn't sure what had him so het up, but he was definitely ticked off about something. He was glaring at Bodie, jaw clenched.

Veronica smiled brightly at the other boy. "Yeah, I don't know if Duncan or Ms. Dent would approve a topless photo. How about I just take a few shots of you with your surfboard, maybe a bit closer to the water?"

"Sure," Bodie said cheerfully. "And you ever want a private modeling session, I'm happy to do that too."

They made their way to the shoreline, and Veronica got several good shots of him both in and out of the water. Bodie continued to flirt with her in a manner so obvious she had to work hard to keep from rolling her eyes at him. Eventually Logan started calling questions for the guy to answer as she snapped her photos, allowing her to interject with a few directions for posing and positioning from time to time.

As they were wrapping up an announcement came over the PA system and Bodie sighed. "Well, guys, I'd better go prep. I'm surfing the next round."

"Oh great! I'm hoping to get some action shots."

"Be sure to get my good side!" Bodie said with a grin and a wink. "Which is all of them, of course!"

Veronica laughed. "I got you covered."

The surfer headed toward the area where the other competitors were getting ready to go out on the water. Veronica let her gaze roam over the beach, trying to determine where she could get a good shot of the surfers as they rode the waves. She decided on a spot about a hundred yards from where they were standing and headed down the beach toward it, stopping when she realized Logan wasn't following her.

She turned back to see a funny look on his face. "What?" she snapped, conscious of a small group of Neptuners nearby.

"I got you covered?" Logan mimicked her, his voice a falsetto.

Veronica shrugged. "I'm not a bad hand at the camera, you know. And I enjoy taking pictures of things other than cheating spouses from time to time."

Logan shook his head. "Why your dad let you tag along with some of his PIs this summer, I will never know. But what I meant was, did you have to flirt with him?"

"I wasn't, though."

"Right."

"I wasn't!"

He rolled his eyes. "I can guarantee you that's not how he sees it."

Flabbergasted, Veronica stared at him for a long moment, then turned and stomped down the beach. That she didn't entirely have to fake the fuming probably lent credence to their narrative, but she didn't much care about that right this instant. After a moment, Logan stalked after her.

She ignored him and focused instead on checking the viewfinder on her camera, taking a few trial shots of some of the surfers already on the water.

"I wasn't flirting with him," she said quietly after a while. "Or at least I didn't mean to."

He chuckled. "I'll believe that second part. I swear, you're the most perceptive person I know, except when it comes to relationship stuff as it pertains to yourself. It's like the one area of your life where you've got a perpetual set of blinders on."

"I have no idea what you're talking about." Although Lilly had said something similar on occasion. Veronica frowned.

"Exactly. You just proved my point, Mars."

"That isn't helpful, Logan."

He sighed. "Look, Veronica, you were hot before you decided to chop off your hair and stop wearing so much pink. Now that hotness factor has increased by a factor of ten. Teenage boys are bound to notice. Case in point, Bodie Chang."

"His come ons were really lame."

He barked out a laugh, surprising her. "I guess I should just be glad you recognized them for what they are, given how often you've remained oblivious in the past. Then again, subtlety is obviously not Bodie's style."

"Oblivious?" Veronica lowered her camera to stare at him. "When have I ever been oblivious to the people around me?"

"Almost never," Logan agrees, "except when they're flirting with you—or at least trying to."

"Give me one example of a guy who was trying to flirt with me without my realized it."

"Just one? Really? Fine, how about the first, that I noticed? Duncan Kane."

She gaped at him. "That's…. That's sick!"

He rolled his eyes. "I don't mean recently, duh. I'm saying that he had a huge crush on you before that night when we found everything out."

"No, he didn't. I was Lilly's annoying friend."

"Whom he left his room to hang out with, even though he crawled back into his cave every time some of your other friends would come by. I mean, the only reason he got me to stay over the night of Lilly's birthday was his desperate need for a wingman."

She's flat-out staring now. "Are you serious?"

"As a heart attack. Or a call from my dad."

She was saved from having to reply as the competition announcer called out Bodie's name and gave a brief rundown on his athletic history. "I have to get these shots."

"Yeah. Let me know if you need me to explain any of the moves he's doing."

As she knew nothing about surfing apart from the fact that it involved waves and a board, she was grateful for his instruction. As he explained what Bodie was doing—a trifle more coherently than the announcer, for that matter—she frowned at him.

"What?"

"You should be out there, kicking Bodie's butt."

Logan rolled his eyes. "What do I need to compete for? I'm happy just surfing for fun."

"You're good, though. I've seen you do a lot of the moves he's doing."

He shrugged. "So?"

"So, maybe it's something you should think about."

He sighed. "You think my dad would let me compete in a sport where guys are regularly photographed with their shirts off?"

She lowered her camera, laid an arm on his. "He won't be in your life forever." There was conviction and fury in her statement. It wasn't just a declaration; it was a vow. She was tempted to say more, but suspected she might lapse into melodrama.

"Well, he's in it now, so I'd rather not count eggs before they're hatched, if it's all the same to you."

"Fine," she said, picking up her camera again. "But I'm going to make sure those eggs hatch, and sooner rather than later. I swear, if you'd just let me go to my dad—"

"No, Veronica. We've talked about this. My mom couldn't handle a Daddy Dearest scandal. Running that kind of press gauntlet would kill her as surely as force feeding her a bottle of pills."

"I know, I know," she said. "I just hate it. I hate him."

"Believe me, there is no way your hate is vaster or deeper than mine." They stared out at the glistening waves in front of him for a long while before she sighed and turned back to him.

"I'm pretty sure I have enough shots for your article. Why don't we head back? We can talk about how you plan to modify our little school drama in the safety of your car."

He smiled. "Sure. We can even stop somewhere and buy food. And ice cream."

She nodded approvingly. "I have trained you well, Echolls."

"Damn straight, Mars."

* * *

He took her to a little Italian restaurant about thirty minutes from Neptune, assuring her they were unlikely to run into schoolmates there.

She ordered manicotti and he ordered the lasagna. It was a habit of his to order a full meal when she was with him, especially if it was Italian, because she often ended up eating half of whatever he ordered anyway. She pretended ignorance at his tactics, but nodded when he glanced at her as he gave the waitress his order, so she knew he was wise to her ways.

"You know," she said casually after the obligatory moaning over the yumminess of the food in her mouth, "if anyone spotted us they'd think we were on some kind of secret date or something."

"I wish."

"Har, har, I'm being serious here, Logan. People would think we were in a clandestine relationship if they saw us meeting up." She frowned when his eyes blanked for a second, and then he grinned. "What?"

"What?"

"You made your 'aha, I have an idea I think you'll like' face. In fact, you're still wearing it. So spill."

"I was just thinking that could be our new narrative. I could be your secret boyfriend. It would give me a reason to lay off on the hazing, and those 'in the know' wouldn't question it if I took a few measures to protect you."

She rolled her eyes at him. "Logan. Dude. One, I don't need your protection. Two, you just got out of a fake relationship."

"What does that have to do with anything?"

"So now you're going to dive into another one? Don't you want to, I don't know, sow your wild oats on the countless Neptune girls eager to throw their vaginas on your dick?"

"Why should I? Because when you put it that way, it sounds so appealing? It's not like I see you sowing any wild oats, despite your more adventurous wardrobe. Which, by the way, I wholly approve of."

Veronica glared at him. "This is not about me."

He crossed his arms and gave her a steely look. "We could make it about you."

"I'm just saying, you're a teenage boy, and you should allow yourself to enjoy your youth."

"Like you're doing, General V?"

"Absolutely. I am totally enjoying my youth. You see this?" She waved at her empty plate. "This used to be a full order of manicotti. You see that?" She waved at his still mostly full plate. "That's most of a lasagna, half of which you'll be giving to me. I am enjoying my youthful metabolism."

Logan rolled his eyes, but cut a generous portion of his lasagna and transferred it to her waiting plate. "Your metabolism isn't due to your age, it's because you've got a tapeworm or are secretly descended from Pac-Man or something."

"Whatever. My point remains, though. There is no reason for us to fake a relationship. It makes more sense if you stay free to flirt with people to get what we want. And that way you can even sleep with them if you like."

He grimaced. "Contrary to popular opinion, I have no desire to follow in my father's footsteps, thank you."

She bit her lip, laid a hand on his. "Sorry, I didn't mean it like that."

"Yeah, I know. Still, stop trying to push me at random skanks, okay? If I was looking for no-strings sex, I would've stayed with Lilly. Fucking around isn't my style."

She smiled. "I know. I'm just saying you shouldn't be tied down to a fake relationship. You never know, you might find someone you actually want to be with. You might even know them from school, but just never let yourself take the chance on being with them. You could show them you're interested, see if they might be interested too—heck, it's Neptune, and you're Logan Echolls, which means every girl in school is interested in you."

"Surely not _every_ girl."

She laughed. "You know what I mean, O King of the 09ers." Then she sobered. "Take a chance and be happy, Lo. You deserve it, and I really, really want it for you. So no, I'm not going to enter into a fake relationship with you. I want to leave you free to make a real one."

He ducked his head shyly. "Thanks, Veronica. And maybe I _will_ show some lucky lady I'm boyfriend material."

Her stomach did a funny little clench at his words. _He needs someone to love him_ , she thought. Outwardly, she smiled and said, "Boy, you better believe it. You'd be the best boyfriend ever."

He laughed awkwardly. "Now you're doing it up too thick."

She sighed, cursing Aaron Echolls for his abusive ways, for leaving his son so blind and self-denigrating. "Logan, look at me, because I'm only going to say this once." Actually, what she was about to say was something she would say over and over again in as many ways possible until the guy clued into his awesomeness. "You would be a fantastic boyfriend because you are sweet and thoughtful and a good listener. Apart from that, you are smart and good and funny and brave and an all-around great person. Don't settle for less than someone who makes you happy." She frowned. "Also, don't look at me like that."

"Like what?" His voice was strangely hoarse. She reached over and pushed his glass closer.

"Take a drink. Stop giving me your puppy eyes. I meant it, and you should know that about yourself. And also we need to go, so finish your lasagna."

She focused on finishing the portion he'd given her, clearing her plate in record time. When she looked up, his own portion was virtually untouched, and he was staring at her. She raised her eyebrows at him, and he flushed.

"Ah, I'm not too hungry. Why don't I just get the check?"

She hummed in agreement. "We're still getting ice cream on the way home, right?"

"Do I look like I'm foolish enough to get between you and ice cream?" He raised a hand, caught a waitress's attention, and asked for the bill.

She smiled. "Like I said, you're a smart guy. So. No fake relationships, okay?"

"Yep," he said, grinning. "You've convinced me. No fake relationships, to leave the way clear for a real one."

She wondered if he had anyone in mind. She tried not to frown when she wondered who that might be. For some reason, despite what she'd said, she couldn't imagine Logan with any of the girls she knew from Neptune High. None of Lilly's 'skank army' was good enough for him, and he only really hung out with the 09ers and the surfer guys. Obviously, she would need to watch him more closely.

Later, as they turned onto the PCH, he glanced over at her. "You're quiet."

"Just thinking."

"About what?"

"Stuff."

"Wow, such detail!"

She rolled her eyes at him, but was grateful to fall into their normal banter. "So, your majesty, how do you propose we go about establishing a truce even before we've done more than fire the opening volley?"

He smiles. "Lilly and I had a few ideas about that. You just leave it to us."

She sighed. "I don't like not being in the know."

"You know all the relevant information. And I'll be working on this in the background for now, so you can remain your prickly self at school for a little while longer."

"Fine. But this means you're buying me an extra scoop of ice cream. You know I don't like surprises."

He smiled. "Tiny one, you say that like I wasn't going to buy you an extra scoop anyway."

"Have I mentioned how well your training has come along, Echolls?"

"Only once today, Mars. It bears repeating."

* * *

Logan dropped Veronica off at home, where she immediately headed into her dad's workshop over the garage, Corny's package in hand. The workshop was home to a collection of specialized tools and equipment they both used to tinker with spy cams, forge IDs, and all manner of quasi-legal doohickeys and whatchamacallits.

Veronica was busy soldering some of the wires she'd stuck into the ceramic figure Corny had made her when she heard her dad calling her name from downstairs.

"Honey? Are you in the Batcave?"

"Dad, I told you not to call it that."

"You were perfectly happy to call it that when you were satisfied being the Robin to my Batman," Keith said as he came up the stairs. "Now that you've decided you want to be Batman yourself, suddenly I don't get to call it the Batcave."

"It's the workshop, Dad. Not the Batcave. Unless you want to be the butler."

"I'll have you know that the butler is awesome." Keith rubbed his chin with a finger thoughtfully. "But, no, I'm still Batman."

She rolled her eyes. "Then this isn't the Batcave."

He came up behind her. She leaned into the kiss he placed on her temple. "Honey, is that what I think it is?"

"Dad, don't ask about it, don't think about it."

"Plausible deniability?" It was a rule they'd come up with when Veronica was five. She'd found Keith's secret stash of cigars—Lianne hated it when he smoked them, even though he really only did it when very stressed or when celebrating—and he had told his daughter not to ask or think about what was tucked into the hollowed out pages of a hardbound copy of Mario Puzo's _The Godfather_.

"Plausible deniability. I thought you weren't going to be back until Friday?"

"Well, I swooped down, kicked ass, and ninjaed out of DC, very much like a certain Dark Knight would have, and decided to come home early for some quality time with my number one daughter. Who absolutely is not inserting an IED like a catheter in a ceramic penis. Are you coming down for dinner or should I bring something up here for you?"

"I ate earlier, with Logan."

"Uh huh. Are you coming down or should I bring you something?"

She looked up from what she was doing, saw him smirking at her. "What's for dinner?"

"Swedish meatballs."

She grinned. "I'll come down, then."

"I'll call you when dinner's ready. It shouldn't be more than half an hour. Don't make me come back up here to get you."

"No, sir, I won't, sir." She sent him a snappy salute.

He rolled his eyes. "Smartass."

"I learned it from my daddy, sir."

He left the workshop laughing.

Over dinner, they talked about Keith's recent business trip, and Veronica quitting pep squad and FBLA in favor of journalism and the literary magazine.

"I didn't know you wrote anything more than case files and school reports," Keith said in a casual tone that fooled Veronica not at all.

"I don't. But journalism is an investigatory field, plus I'll get to use my photography skills."

"Which doesn't explain the literary magazine."

"Oh, that's cause I suspect the staff advisor is part of a cult and don't want her to convince any impressionable teenage Neptuners to drink the Kool-Aid before testing the contents to make sure it's really just sugar and food coloring, and not actually cyanide."

"Uh huh. So why did you really join the magazine?"

She rolled her eyes. "A one of the 09er guys dropped off the radar late last school year, and we've since learned he seems to have decided he was the missing star of _The Simple Life_. I'm doing Logan a favor and checking into things, making it's not anything more serious than the guy finding God or whatever."

Keith frowned. "That still doesn't explain the literary magazine."

"Oh, the guy—Casey Gant—is in the lit mag. Since he's a senior and I don't have any classes with him, it's the only way I can get close to him at school without it being overly suspicious."

"Casey Gant, heir to Gant Publishing? Isn't he kind of an asshole? I remember Lamb saying I should never let you in a car with him, given the number of speeding tickets he's collected."

"That's the one. He sold his Porsche and has moved to some kind of farm commune thing. I'd hunt him up at lunch, but he spends it playing hacky sack with other kids from said farm commune."

"Is that the cult you were referring to?"

"Yep." She popped the P with relish.

"Well, you be careful. If I thought it would do any good, I would say something like, 'Veronica? Do not, under pain of slow, agonizing death, even _think_ about going to the compound yourself.' But it wouldn't do any good, would it?"

"Plausible deniability, Pops!" Veronica said cheerfully.

"Take your taser, keep a sat phone in your car, and you call me if there is anything even remotely suspicious about these people, _nous comprenons nous_?"

" _Mais oui_. Gotcha, Frenchie."

"And on the subject of that IED I did not see you building—"

"Alleged IED you did not see me building."

"On the subject of that _alleged_ IED I did not see you building, I don't want to hear about anyone getting hurt from anything remotely explosive."

"You won't."

"Honey, you know Lamb's nose is toasty brown, right? And Fire Chief Bill is a regular at my poker games. If anyone gets hurt, I _will_ find out about it."

"Dad." Veronica stared him straight in the eye, all joking gone from her tone and expression. "If anyone gets hurt, you won't have to ask around because I'd tell you myself."

Keith smiled. "That's my little Robin."

"Dad! I'm Batman!"

* * *

AUTHOR'S NOTE: I actually wasn't sure I'd be able to post this on time because my laptop wigged out and had to be reformatted, resulting in the loss of 2.5 chapters of this fic and 2 chapters of another WIP. But I managed to recreate these scenes and am actually happier than I was with them the first time around, and the amazing Irma66 decided to go into goddess mode and bestowed an emergency beta read on my poor unfortunate soul. So here you go! Next update is on 20 December 2018. And don't worry, I am backing up in duplicate this time!


	10. Let's Get Down to Business

**Chapter 10: Let's Get Down to Business**

* * *

SUMMARY: Operation Save Wallace is underway, as is Operation Save Casey. And an interesting offer is made in relation to another mission, one near and dear to Veronica's heart.

* * *

Veronica headed into school half an hour early the next morning, armed with a venti cold brew and a layer of concealer to disguise the fact that she'd hardly slept the night before. She'd been working on the final touches for Phase 1 of Operation Save Wallace.

She allowed herself a flash of satisfaction when she approached the English teacher's classroom and recognized the tall boy speaking animatedly while the older woman listened attentively. She decided immediately that, despite the rumors Lilly had heard, there was nothing romantic between the teacher and student.

Both of the room's occupants turned when she rapped her knuckles on the door and stepped inside, pasting a hesitant smile on her face. "Hi."

"Veronica!" Ms. Mills was beaming at her. "There you are! I was just telling Casey that you both seem to be in the same boat."

"Um. We are?"

"Absolutely. Casey joined up and was more interested in doing editorial work and layout initially, but he's recently started submitting his work to the magazine, and I hope he'll be able to help you get comfortable enough with your own writing to do the same. He says you guys already know each other."

"Yeah. Hi Casey," Veronica said, waving awkwardly.

"Veronica," he said, a warm smile lighting up his face. Okay, that was weird. The Casey Gant she'd known had practically patented the whole too-cool-for-this-school schtick. Mr. Blasé, Lilly had called him sometimes. _This_ Casey was friendly, even effusive. The cult rumor was gaining more and more traction by the minute; Veronica decided it was more likely than body snatching. "I heard you'd be joining up, but I had to see to believe."

She shrugged, smiling back a little. "I'm expanding my horizons, I guess."

He beamed at her. "Well, Ms. Mills is a great person to help you do that." Veronica had a moment to rethink her assessment of their teacher-student bond, but dismissed it. "I'd be happy to help however I can as well."

"Uh, thanks. I guess? I'm a little bit nervous about it." She let out a stilted laugh.

"No need. Now, why don't you tell me a little about what you've been writing?"

"Why don't I just leave you two to chat for a bit? I'm going to head over to the faculty lounge and get myself a cup of tea before the hordes descend."

"Sure, Holly," Casey said, nodding. The older woman smiled and headed for the door.

Veronica gave him her best surprised face—jaw slackened just a bit, eyes wide, both eyebrows raised. "You call her by her first name?"

He rubbed the back of his neck. "Ah, yeah. I've been staying over at the Moon Calf Collective a lot more recently. She and Josh—he's the guy who runs the place—they've been really great, helping me get my head on straight and stuff."

"Moon Calf Collective?" _Did he just casually drop the name of the cult into conversation?_ Veronica goggled a bit.

"Uh, yeah, it's a community? Their farm's about 45 minutes out of town? Helps people who've been feeling a little displaced find where they need to be in life, I guess."

"And you felt you needed help finding that?"

Casey smirked, and finally Veronica saw some of the old Casey Gant in him. "Didn't I? You're the only one who ever called bullshit on my posturing, before, and even then it was just cutesy glares and 'That's not nice, Casey.'" His voice rose at the end, in a teasing mimicry of the indignant tones Veronica had adopted while appearing to live in Lilly's shadow.

She flushed. "Well, you weren't. Very nice."

He nodded. "I know. And I'm glad you've gotten out from under the thumb of Neptune's own little prince and princess. The way they're treating you for calling them out on their shitty behavior just highlights their faults."

"Oh." She winced. "You heard about that, huh?"

"Veronica. I might not be hanging with the 09ers these days, but I still do go to this school. And I have neither been struck blind or rendered deaf since the start of classes. I know the 09ers have declared you persona non grata, on orders from Lilly and Logan."

 _At least the right narrative is being shared through the grapevine._ She sighed. "Maybe they could use some time at your Moon Cow Community."

He chuckled. "Moon Calf Collective. And yeah, probably, but neither of them seem the type to go." He looked at her for a long moment.

"What?"

"You should come."

Veronica resisted the urge to grin triumphantly. "Huh?"

"To the Collective. You should come visit. If all the stuff that goes on here"—he gestured toward the hallways—"gets to be too much. You'll have friends there. Real ones who care about you and not who your parents are or how much money you have."

 _Yeah, they care so little about your money they took the cash you got from selling your Porsche_. "I… I'll think about it?" Veronica tried for another hesitant smile. "I'm determined to show Lilly and Logan they don't scare me, so I'm a bit busy these days. And I'm not abandoning them completely, just showing them I'm not going to follow where they lead anymore."

"Hoping to stage a coup?"

"No." She shook her head vehemently. "I have no desire to usurp Lilly or Logan in their rule over the 09ers. Absolute monarchy works for that lot. But I definitely want to let them know not everyone's going to ask how high when they say jump. And I can dish out whatever they want to serve me, and then some."

He chuckled. "Well, on you head be it, but I'll be cheering you on from the sidelines. I'm way too busy these days to help you mess with the status quo."

She smiled. "I'm happy to fight my own battles, but it's nice knowing I've got support, however silent. As for your invitation… it might be nice? To take a break from the soap opera known as 09erville. Eventually, anyway."

He beamed at her and placed a reassuring hand on her shoulder. "It'll be there whenever you're ready. You'll love it, I know."

"Thanks."

"Now," he said, dropping his hand and raising an eyebrow at her. "What kind of writing have you been doing?"

She didn't have to fake her deer-in-headlights expression. "Uh, poetry, I guess?" She licked her lips. "It's been… different from anything I ever thought I might write. But it's kind of, you know, cathartic. Especially with everything going on. I've mostly been dabbling at stuff, writing stuff from dreams or just venting? But I guess I'm here cause I want to see if this is something I could work on."

He smiled. "Sure it is, and there's nothing wrong with a little writing therapy. So why don't we start by me showing you some of the stuff I've worked on, and we can talk through it? Then if you're still not ready to show me some of your stuff, we can go through past issues of the lit mag."

She smiled. "Thanks, Casey."

"No problem, Veronica. Like Ms. Mills said, we're happy to have you. And if you're as good with the camera as I remember, you might want to consider taking some photos and submitting them as options for in-mag art, or even as the cover image."

She nodded. "I can do that. I'm more willing to show people my photos than I am my writing."

"We'll get you there."

* * *

Veronica had to wait until the school emptied after the end of the day before enacting the next part of her plan. After engaging in a little breaking and entering, she left the school and drove over to the police station, stopping for coffee on the way.

She greeted Inga as she entered, pleased to be told Lamb was in his office, doing paperwork. "Hi Donny," she chirped as she came through his door. "I come bearing salted caramel goodness."

"Gimme."

She handed over the macchiato she'd bought for him, while sipping her own iced mocha. She knew he wouldn't talk to her until he was good and ready, so she watched as he scribbled his signature over a few forms, letting her eyes rove over the familiar walls of the sheriff's office.

It always embarrassed her that he continued to display a crayon drawing she'd made for him when she was four next to some photos of himself posing with his brother and a couple more posing with various Neptune citizens, including Keith and Jake.

"It's my favorite one, you know."

She turned to the sheriff. "What?"

"Of all the photos on that wall, my favorite one's the one you're looking at."

She wrinkled her nose. "It's a stick-figure drawing. In crayon. An early testament to my inability to draw so much as a straight line."

He smiled. "It's a stick-figure drawing of me with a stick-figure puppy version of Buster. It's proof that, at one point in life, Veronica Mars was as bowled over by a puppy as any other little girl. Sometimes I kind of miss the days before you discovered scheming."

She rolled her eyes. "Lamb, I'm pretty sure I drew that as a scheme to get to see Buster more, even though you were trying to be strict about sequestering him for his training."

"Well. At least it was an _innocent_ scheme. Not like the one you're going to draw me into today." He raised his eyebrows at her. "Am I right, or am I right?"

She pursed her lips against a smirk. "You're somewhat right," she conceded.

"Course I am. So what can I do you for? Got a scheme that won't leave my boys looking like chumps?"

"Yep, although some property damage could occur. And, hey, speaking of Buster, a K-9 drug sniffer would be a really great supporting actor for the drama I'm planning."

"Hmm. Tell me more." So she did. He laughed wickedly when she told him the who, shook his head when he learned the how. "I don't even want to know how you learned to do that."

"Don't ask, I won't tell."

"You got it, Veevee."

"Ugh, don't call me that!"

"So what time should I get Deputy Sacks to go over there with Buster tomorrow?"

"Morning before class starts is good. And remember, don't store it near evidence you can't afford to lose."

"Mmhmm. I'll do you a favor and place it beside the box of speeding tickets Lilly and Logan keep filling up and never paying."

She smirked. "I'll make them give extra at your next fundraiser. Better yet, I'll get their daddies to do it."

Don made a face. "Jake's money I'll take, but Aaron's a slimy son of a bitch."

 _This is new._ She knew her dad hated Aaron Echolls with a vengeance, but hadn't realized Lamb didn't like the guy either. Of course, she herself hated Aaron with every fiber of her soul, and she knew when it came to slimy bastards, information was power, so she leaned forward and pierced the sheriff with a hungry gaze. "What do you have on him? Do tell."

He waved a hand. "I had a girl come in, couldn't be more than 18 or 19, said she was pretty sure Aaron boinked her little sister. But the girl denied it, and so did Aaron. Problem is, while I'm a lazy fuck, but I'm a damn good detective when I want to be, and both of them are shit actors, never you mind that shiny Oscar on the Echolls mantle. So I know they're lying their asses off. But I can't arrest Hollywood's golden guy for statutory rape without proof."

Veronica rubbed the small dent in her chin thoughtfully. "You want proof."

"Contrary to popular opinion, I'm not so incompetent to think I can bring a case like this to the DA without all my i's dotted and my t's crossed. So, yeah, proof would be nice. The legally obtained variety."

"Hmm."

"Veronica," the sheriff warned, "I'm not saying this to get you to do anything."

"Of course not."

"Stay away from Aaron Echolls, Veronica. The guy is a skin bag stuffed with horse shit. And he's got mean eyes."

Veronica focused in on his face. "What do you know?" she asked tensely.

He raised his hands. "I don't _know_ anything. Given how things work in this town, I might not know anything until your boy Logan or his mom comes in and tells me something. But my dad had mean eyes just like Aaron Echolls."

"Did he." It wasn't a question. She didn't bother to mask the dark tone in her voice.

"Yeah." Lamb's tone was just as dark, his eyes just as intense, for all his face showed nothing, and his words came slow and steady. "And he used his fists on my brother and my mom and me until Dan and I got too big for him to wale on. Then we kicked his sorry ass out of the house and told him not to come back unless he wanted to be put in traction. I'd do it again, and I'd be happy to apply the same treatment to any guy cut from the same cloth."

"What are you saying?"

He spread his hands in a what-are-you-gonna-do kind of gesture. "You know what I'm saying. You call me, tell me to go the Echolls place, I'm there. Any time, day or night. You won't owe me a thing. I won't be doing you a favor, you'll be giving me a gift. You tell your boy, same thing goes for him."

She smirked. "He's not my boy."

He smirked right back. "You sure he knows that?"

Veronica rolled her eyes. "You and Lilly. Busybodies, the both of you." She rose. "I'd better head home before my dear old dad wonders what I'm up to. I guess I'll see Buster tomorrow?"

"Yep."

"Oh, and can you say you got an anonymous tip about me too, and have Deputy Sacks and Buster take a sniff at my locker, make me open it up for inspection before they hit the target?"

"Sure. Why not? No skin off my nose if you want to look like the suspicious individual you actually are."

She grinned as she rose and stuck out a hand. "Excellent doing business with you, Sheriff Lamb."

He shook it. "Just remember you owe me a drug trafficker."

"No problemo."

She headed out the door. Just as she reached for the handle, he said, "Veronica, I meant what I said. You call me if you get anything on Aaron Echolls. And you don't confront him yourself under any circumstances."

"I heard you, Donnie." She met his eyes, let her eyes fill with the sincerity of what she was feeling. "Thank you."

"Like I said, no thanks, no favors necessary. It'd be a goddamn pleasure. Just give me something that'll stick."

She left the station smiling.

* * *

After another dinner where her mother was suspiciously absent and her father very obviously refrained from asking questions about drug paraphernalia or improvised explosive devices, Veronica logged into the Fab Four chat room.

 **TrueImage:** Guys, WTF is up with these nicknames?

 **BulbousFlower:** I have no idea. Ask Logan over there. But mine sounds kind of sexual, so I'm fine with it.

 **SmallHollow:** Of course you are. Anyhow, I thought it would be fun. We were talking about the meanings of names in English class today, and I looked ours up.

 **BrownWarrior:** I just don't know why it had to specify I be a brown warrior? I mean, aren't we all warriors, irregardless of the color of our skin?

 **BulbousFlower:** Aww, there's Celeste's little politician in the making.

 **SmallHollow:** Duncan: Firstly, I didn't make it up, just looked up what your name meant. Secondly, "irregardless" is not a word, how can the editor in chief of the Neptune Navigator not know that?

 **BulbousFlower:** Shame! Shame!

 **BrownWarrior:** Shut up, Lilly. And "irregardless" is in the dictionary.

 **SmallHollow:** Added only because of pressure from heathens like yourself.

 **BulbousFlower:** You go and school the brown warrior, ex-boyfriend!

 **TrueImage:** Okay, guys, quit bickering.

 **BulbousFlower:** Logan started it! And he picked the nicknames.

 **TrueImage:** Next time, Duncan gets to pick the nicknames.

 **BrownWarrior:** Yes!

 **BulbousFlower:** I'll help you, Dunky.

 **BrownWarrior:** I can come up with them on my own, thank you very much.

 **BulbousFlower:** But what if they're boring?

 **BrownWarrior:** They won't be.

 **BulbousFlower:** But what if they are?

 **BrownWarrior:** Then you'll have to live with them, won't you?

 **TrueImage:** Focus, guys! I'm really sleepy. I spent most of last night working on my little gift.

 **BulbousFlower:** Gift? Is it for me?

 **TrueImage:** It's not a nice gift, Lil. And I was thinking about leaving it for you to find but I decided on a worthier recipient.

 **BulbousFlower:** How dare you? There is no worthier recipient than I, Veronica Mars!

 **TrueImage:** See, now, I know you think that, but you haven't been doing a very good job at making my life miserable.

 **BulbousFlower:** My minions flushed your clothes in the toilet! And decorated your locker!

 **TrueImage:** Without your prompting them. Lame, Lilly. You only get credit if you're the instigator.

 **BulbousFlower:** You can't see it, but I'm pouting.

 **TrueImage:** I don't have to see it to know when you're pouting.

 **BulbousFlower:** How come I'm the only one catching flak for this?

 **TrueImage:** Logan at least made a show of messing with the graffiti on my locker. And by the way, you really need to get louder and more obnoxious about not being friends with me. What happened to unleashing your inner drama queen?

 **BulbousFlower:** It just feels weird saying bad things about you, Ronica.

 **TrueImage:** Well, suck it up, Lillian Kane. The sooner this can blow up, the sooner we can make up.

 **BulbousFlower:** Fine. I'll accuse you of having the hots for Logan or something.

 **TrueImage:** Haha. That could work.

 **BulbousFlower:** I know. Because it's TRUE.

 **TrueImage:** I think I would know if I were secretly in love with Logan.

 **SmallHollow:** Are you?

 **TrueImage:** Haha. No.

 **SmallHollow:** Hear that?

 **TrueImage:** What?

 **BulbousFlower:** Hear what?

 **SmallHollow:** The sound of my hopes being dashed upon the rocks of your inhospitable shore.

 **TrueImage:** Oh brother. Save the poetry for my lit mag entries, please. And by the way, I need those pronto. I'm meeting with Ms. Mills and my new partner—probably Casey—tomorrow morning.

 **SmallHollow:** I'm not writing you poetry so you can woo Casey Gant away from the dark side.

 **TrueImage:** Just write me something angry and angsty then.

 **SmallHollow:** Fine. I can write about how nobody understands my pain, how I try to reach out, but all is in vain.

 **BrownWarrior:** Haha, I like that you made it rhyme. Don't forget: "I cut because I can."

 **SmallHollow:** I haven't forgotten. I only bleed on the inside.

 **BulbousFlower:** ANYWAY, back to my point, I'm going to sell the skanks on the idea that you've probably been in love with Logan this whole time. I bet Meg will be the only one who'll take your side, Ronica. I'll just tell her you're in denial despite what everybody can see.

 **TrueImage:** Go to town.

 **BrownWarrior:** That'd probably have Meg secretly shipping Logan and Veronica.

 **TrueImage:** But it'll have the Paris Hilton Wannabe squad out for my blood, which is what I'm aiming for.

 **BulbousFlower:** The skank squad will swallow whatever I feed them. As for Meg, we need more LoVe shippers with the power to believe so it can happen. And who better than our own little Disney princess?

 **SmallHollow:** Thank you for campaigning on my behalf. As you see, I have my work cut out for me to prove my undying affection.

 **BulbousFlower:** Always!

 **TrueImage:** Back on track, guys. Stop goofing around. Lilly, you're gonna step up the bullying, right?

 **BulbousFlower:** Fine, I'll think of something. Let it be known that I am only bullying you under protest.

 **TrueImage:** I love you too, Lil.

 **BulbousFlower:** So what happened on your and Logan's date?

 **SmallHollow:** It wasn't a date.

 **TrueImage:** It wasn't a date.

 **BrownWarrior:** Logan is writing an article for the Navigator. Logan never writes articles for the Navigator. So whatever it was, it was SOMETHING.

 **TrueImage:** He's in Journalism class! How does he get away with not doing any work?

 **BrownWarrior:** Usually I let him put his name on some of my minor articles. Or he corrects my grammar and calls himself the copy editor.

 **SmallHollow:** You need to be edited. Your grammar is shameful.

 **BrownWarrior:** It's not that bad.

 **SmallHollow:** Duncan, the correct use of there/their/they're isn't fucking rocket science.

 **TrueImage:** Whatever. Logan, do a good job on this Bodie article.

 **SmallHollow:** It wouldn't be true to character.

 **TrueImage:** You should do it anyway. You're a good writer.

 **SmallHollow:** You're just making me do it because he made goo-goo eyes at you and kept opening his mouth to vomit lousy pickup lines into the air.

 **BrownWarrior:** He what?

 **BulbousFlower:** Wait, what? Bodie Chang flirted with you when you were on a date with Logan? Veronica Mars! I didn't think you had it in you.

 **TrueImage:** It wasn't a date!

 **SmallHollow:** It wasn't a date :(

 **TrueImage:** Don't you start, Logan. Bodie didn't mean it.

 **SmallHollow:** He practically stripped off his wetsuit. I guarantee it wasn't because he wanted MY eyes on his mediocre abs.

 **TrueImage:** Yet the knowledge that they are mediocre proves you looked nevertheless. And at least he had abs.

 **SmallHollow:** I was only curious about what you were staring at.

 **TrueImage:** I've got eyes. They were tired from being held back from rolling at his cheesy come-ons.

 **BulbousFlower:** LOL I'm surprised you even noticed he was hitting on you, Ronica.

 **SmallHollow:** THANK you. I said the exact same thing.

 **TrueImage:** Ugh, not this again. Duncan, help me out here!

 **BrownWarrior:** With what?

 **TrueImage:** Logan here says I'm completely oblivious to when guys hit on me.

 **BulbousFlower:** Hahaha! I can't believe he called you out on it! GJ, Lo!

 **SmallHollow:** It would be, if she believed me.

 **TrueImage:** You said DUNCAN had a crush on me before he found out I was his sister.

 **BulbousFlower:** Okay, that's going to truly desperate lengths to deflect, Logan. Also, eww.

 **BrownWarrior:** …

 **BulbousFlower:** OMFG for real?

 **BrownWarrior:** …

 **BulbousFlower:** Excuse me. Sibling emergency.

 **SmallHollow:** I suppose she's gone to beat the truth out of him.

 **TrueImage:** Whatever. So, topic change. Troy Vandegraff, GHB. Spill.

 **SmallHollow:** All I know is what Duncan told me. Troy bragged about knowing just how to make any girl tell him yes. Duncan prodded him a bit, and Troy handed him a vial of Liquid X. Golden boy wasn't sure what to do with it, so I told him to keep it for now.

 **TrueImage:** He just gave a vial of Liquid X to Duncan freaking Kane?

 **SmallHollow:** I know, right? DK's such a straight arrow, it was a dumbass move.

 **TrueImage:** Or a smart one, if Duncan didn't give it back. Now Troy's got leverage on him. Or thinks he does.

 **SmallHollow:** What kind of leverage?

 **TrueImage:** Now Duncan is in possession of an illegal substance.

 **BrownWarrior:** No, Lilly is. All I'm in possession of is a bruised arm thanks to Lilly punching me.

 **TrueImage:** Lilly, no abusing our brother. And give Duncan back his drugs. I'm going to take it from him and give it to Lamb. He might need it if any cases come up.

 **BulbousFlower:** Fine. And I'll hand out drink tester sticks to the 09er girls. It should be simple enough to convince Meg or Kimmy to start a drive to hand them out to everyone as part of pep squad or cheerleading community service or whatever.

 **TrueImage:** Good thinking. Leave the GHB at home tomorrow, though. There's going to be a surprise drug inspection at school tomorrow morning.

 **SmallHollow:** Why am I not surprised that the "surprise" inspection is no surprise to you?

 **TrueImage:** Because, Logan, you actually know me?

 **SmallHollow:** You do have a point. Anyway, back on topic.

 **TrueImage:** Yes please.

 **SmallHollow:** Lilly, have you ascertained the veracity of my claim that Duncan had a crush on Veronica before facts made it squicky to do so?

 **BulbousFlower:** OMG yes! How did I not know this?

 **BrownWarrior:** Maybe because I didn't want anybody to know I had a crush on my sister before I knew she was my sister? Thanks, Logan.

 **SmallHollow:** You're welcome, man. The truth shall set you free.

 **BrownWarrior:** Like you're one to talk. You don't even have any excuses.

 **SmallHollow:** I did try to ask Veronica out.

 **BrownWarrior:** What?

 **BulbousFlower:** OMG what did she say?! Are you going to finally get together, fart hearts and rainbows, and make babies?

 **TrueImage:** You guys knew about his dumbass plan? And you didn't talk him out of it? Seriously?

 **BulbousFlower:** Uh, okay, I was definitely not expecting you to react like that, Ronica.

 **TrueImage:** Well, what did you expect? The guy JUST got out of a fake relationship with you, Lilly. I'm certainly not going to be happy at the thought of him having to jump into another fake relationship with me right after. Logan deserves to find a real relationship with somebody who cares about him.

 **SmallHollow:** I do. Veronica has utterly convinced me of this.

 **BrownWarrior:** …

 **BulbousFlower:** This is me facepalming because I can't smack Logan in the face.

 **TrueImage:** Duncan, quit with the dot thingies already.

 **SmallHollow:** They're called ellipses.

 **TrueImage:** Okay, word nerd.

 **BrownWarrior:** They're for when I want to say something but have no idea what.

 **TrueImage:** You should just agree with me.

 **BrownWarrior:** Yes, Veronica.

 **TrueImage:** Yes, exactly like that. No more dots.

 **SmallHollow:** Ellipses.

 **BulbousFlower:** So wait, let me get this straight. Logan, you proposed a fake relationship with Veronica?

 **SmallHollow:** Yes.

 **TrueImage:** He thought it would explain him getting militant about keeping me safe from Troy Vandegraff. Like I can't handle a two-bit trafficker like Troyboy.

 **SmallHollow:** She gave me a lecture. It was awesome.

 **TrueImage:** You're really clueless about your own awesomeness sometimes, Lo.

 **SmallHollow:** I would say the same, except I'm not particularly in the mood to outline my arguments to that effect. AGAIN.

 **BulbousFlower:** You guys are too cute. My teeth are rotting as I type.

 **SmallHollow:** "There are none so blind as those who will not see. The most deluded people are those who choose to ignore what they already know." John Heywood.

 **TrueImage:** Save it for your voice mail message of the day.

 **BulbousFlower:** Okay, okay, wait. So, Logan, you proposed a fake relationship, got shot down, and now you're gonna be in a real relationship with Veronica?

 **SmallHollow:** Yes

 **TrueImage:** Yes to the real relationship, when he finds someone he cares for who cares for him back. The real relationship is not with me. I turned down the fake relationship.

 **BulbousFlower:** Why?

 **TrueImage:** Lilly, is there a reason you're particularly slow on the uptake tonight?

 **BulbousFlower:** No?

 **BrownWarrior:** …

 **TrueImage:** Duncan, use your words.

 **BrownWarrior:** No comment.

 **SmallHollow:** You see what I'm dealing with? My struggle is Sisyphean.

 **TrueImage:** Whatever, Sisyphus. Anyway, let's move on, please. Duncan, what prompted Troy to give you the drugs?

 **BrownWarrior:** I don't know. It pretty much went down as Logan told you. He just gave them to me, and I thought you might want them for, uh, samples or something. So I kept them.

 **TrueImage:** Next time don't take them, okay? You're the golden boy, so don't risk it. Just let me know.

 **BrownWarrior:** Okay. But we're definitely gonna get Troy for this, right? I didn't like how he's been looking at you this week. And he didn't like you going off with Logan today.

 **TrueImage:** Yes, we are going to get Troy. He's not getting away with selling drugs to kids in our town.

 **SmallHollow:** I love it when you get all wild, wild west on us.

 **BulbousFlower:** What he means is, he loves you.

 **SmallHollow:** That too.

 **BrownWarrior:** We all love each other. We're the Fab Four.

 **BulbousFlower:** Shut up, Donut.

 **BrownWarrior:** Do we not?

 **BulbousFlower:** GAH. Fine. Yes, we do. But we don't love her the way Logan loves her.

 **TrueImage:** Okay, okay, I love you guys too. Now, back on topic.

 **BulbousFlower:** I thought we WERE on topic.

 **TrueImage:** How are we on the Luke situation? I was thinking of using Luke as bait for Troy, but if we want to move up the schedule on getting Troy his comeuppance, I'm not entirely sure how primed Luke is for that.

 **SmallHollow:** Pretty well, I'd say. He asked if I had any south-of-border trips planned anytime soon. I said I could probably be persuaded next time my dad's out of town.

 **TrueImage:** So next week, the week after at the latest?

 **SmallHollow:** You say that like you don't know, but I know you know his schedule before I do.

 **BulbousFlower:** He's got you there, Ronica.

 **TrueImage:** Speaking of which, Lamb has some suspicions about Aaron, Logan.

 **SmallHollow:** Oh? I wouldn't have thought the Sheriff of Nottingham would be the type to observe him beyond where best to kiss his ass.

 **TrueImage:** Har har. Don's a brown-noser and a people-user but he's got a few lines he won't cross. He's said in no uncertain terms that he'd come with sirens blaring if you or I called him to your place at any time of the day or night.

 **BrownWarrior:** That's good to know.

 **TrueImage:** He's also had some unverified reports that Aaron's sleeping with some of the underage girls around town, so everybody keep their eyes and ears open for something we can use. I mentioned it to my dad, and he said he's trying to talk Lynn into hiring MIS for the standard philandering spouse package.

 **SmallHollow:** Why? Mom already knows he's a cheating bastard.

 **TrueImage:** Because, Logan, if a PI is hired to follow Aaron Echolls around and catches him with an underaged partner, or catches Aaron messing with you or your mom, he'll be legally obligated to report it to the authorities, and any photos will be admitted into evidence.

 **SmallHollow:** My dad's too paranoid about his rep to get caught.

 **TrueImage:** Everybody trips up sometime. We just need to make sure we're watching when he does.

 **BrownWarrior:** So we keep our eyes peeled for girls at the high school who're into Aaron Echolls?

 **BulbousFlower:** And who are into Logan. They could be wrangling for an invite to Casa Echolls in the hopes of having both father and son.

 **SmallHollow:** I think I'm gonna hurl.

 **BulbousFlower:** Just beware the ulterior motives of skanks. If I didn't love you like the second brother I never had, and if I wasn't scared of Veronica Mars's wrath, I might've had a go at it, just for thrills.

 **SmallHollow:** Now I'm definitely gonna hurl.

 **TrueImage:** Changing subjects! So we all know what we need to do?

 **BrownWarrior:** Keep eyes out for predatory women?

 **TrueImage:** Yes, and we need to push on the Luke and Troy fronts.

 **BrownWarrior:** What do you have planned for tomorrow?

 **TrueImage:** It's a surprise, but you may want to be in the vicinity of certain skanky badge bunny's locker tomorrow before class starts.

 **BulbousFlower:** Veronica Mars, you didn't!

 **TrueImage:** Let's just say I require an audience to witness my artistry.

 **SmallHollow:** And an audience you shall have!

 **TrueImage:** Knew I could count on you, Lo.

 **SmallHollow:** Always.

 **BulbousFlower:** Squee! My eyes are heart shaped!

 **TrueImage:** Good night, Lilly Kane. Maybe you'll be sane in the morning.

 **BulbousFlower:** And maybe you'll see clearly in the bright light of day, Veronica Mars.

 **SmallHollow:** Ah, optimism. The digitalis of failure.

 **BulbousFlower:** I believe in LoVe!

 **TrueImage:** I believe we all need a good night's rest. I'm logging off now.

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AUTHOR'S NOTE: Logan complains about the word "irregardless" in this chapter, which a href=" /words-at-play/is-irregardless-a-real-word-heh-heh" Merriam-Webster defended in a usage note/a. I am, however, choosing the head canon in which word nerd Logan would not be happy about its inclusion in modern dictionaries.

Also, it's the holidays, so to thank you all for bearing with me as far as this has gone (LOL, we're still a long way from the halfway point right now), I'll be posting an extra update within the next week or so, as a holiday gift. So between now and the end of the year, expect two more updates!


	11. Better Make Something Up Real Quick

**Chapter 11: Better Make Up Something Real Quick**

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SUMMARY: Veronica leaves a gift in someone's locker. Someone else leaves one in Logan's.

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AUTHOR'S NOTE: Happy holidays! I'm posting out of schedule just as a holiday gift to thank you if you've been following this fic. This is NOT a throwaway chapter, though; if you skip it, the next one will not make sense. It's just a chapter I would otherwise have posted on my regular schedule, but moved up a few days. So, thank you for hopping on this ride with me and giving this fic a chance. Also, thank you to the amazing Irma66, my beta reader who is made of wisdom, joy, and general awesomeness. This fic would probably never have been posted had she not read my first few chapters and told me it was engaging enough from the start to post as a WIP now instead of as a behemoth fic whenever I happened to get it finished.

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Friday mornings were always a little louder than usual, and today was no exception. Veronica had texted Wallace to meet her out in front of school a quarter hour before first bell. She'd already talked him into using his powers as an office aide to move her locker so they'd be side by side.

Her old locker had been beside Lilly's, as it had been since she'd started high school, but given their current on-the-outs status, she figured it would be suspicious if she didn't push for a change of locker location. She'd deliberately ignored Lilly's pout when she'd moved her stuff out of her old locker a couple of days before.

She positioned herself so her back was to the entrance (and the principal's office) as she chatted with Wallace, asking him about his family and move to Neptune.

"Veronica Mars."

She allowed her body to stiffen when she heard her name called in stentorian tones. She turned to see Vice Principal Clemmons headed toward her, with Deputy Sacks and a perky-eared Buster trailing behind him.

"Mr. Clemmons!" She smiled and tilted her head, thinking that if she projected innocence any harder, she'd be hitting him in the face with a halo. "What can I do you for? Hi, Deputy Sacks! Hi, Buster!"

The large dog cocked his head and let out a friendly whine, making her grin.

"We got an anonymous tip suggesting you might have contraband stashed in your locker," Clemmons said. "I'm going to have to ask you to open it up."

"You really think _I_ would have contraband? And that I'd be foolish enough to keep it in my locker? What kind of reprobate do you take me for?"

"Honestly, before school started this year, I would've said I wouldn't have taken you for a reprobate at all. But I just don't know anymore."

"Aww, don't let me stress you out, Mr. C!"

"Veronica, will you please open your locker?

"Why, surely, Mr. C!" she said, grinning broadly.

She pretended not to hear when Sacks muttered, "Veronica Mars. This should be good."

She spun the dial on the lock, and the dog started to bark. She frowned down at him, and said in a firm voice, "Buster." He whined a bit and settled back on his haunches, licking his lips for a treat she was a little sad she wasn't going to be able to give him today. She saw Sacks frown down at him and hid a smile as the lock released and she opened the locker with a little flourish she'd learned from Logan.

Her locker was completely empty, except for a photo she'd stuck to the back of the door, cut into a heart and traced in pink. Clemmons frowned at the photo, which depicted his own face in the exact same expression he was wearing now. Around them, some of the Neptune High students could be heard giggling.

"Wow," she said, smiling sheepishly. "This is a little embarrassing."

"You used to be such a sweet girl. Never gave me any trouble."

"I also used to be a super fan of the Backstreet Boys, but things change. Nick Carter's golden locks no longer "

"We've got a couple more lockers to check out," Sacks said.

"Well, I wouldn't want to keep you," Veronica said. And smirked when Clemmons, Sacks, and Buster made their way a short distance down the hall toward a blond girl who remained blissfully clueless about the heaping dish of revenge that was about to be served up to her.

"Madison Sinclair," Clemmons said. The bottle blond whirled to face him, then squeaked at the sight of the perky-eared Buster, who regarded her calmly. "Why was I not surprised to see your name on my desk today?"

"Mr. Clemmons!" Madison was smiling creepily, like she wanted to charm her way out of this moment, but it just came off like she was trying to flirt with the vice-principal. "What can I do for you today? I have no idea what I might have done to call your attention to little old me."

"Do you not? Please open your locker."

Madison rolled her eyes, flipped her hair, and turned to comply. She opened the locker door with a bang. "My father will be hearing about this." She stepped to the side as Clemmons and Sacks stepped forward, Buster barking dutifully.

Veronica, Wallace, and all of the students milling about in the hallways watched as Clemmons reached into the locker and pulled out a giant ceramic penis. There was a pause, and then the hallway was filled with muffled giggling as Clemmons said, "This would appear to be a device one would use to smoke marijuana."

"That's exactly what it looks like," Sacks said unhelpfully.

Clemmons ignored him. "I shudder to think of what else you might use it for. So you were right. Your father will certainly be hearing about this."

The giggles increased in volume. Madison glared at the crowd. "That is _not_ mine."

"But it is your locker," Clemmons said.

"No." Her face was a study in pre-tantrum angles, jaw clenched, eyes narrowed, bottom lip stuck out.

"We did just watch you open it," Sacks said. Buster barked, as if for emphasis or to attest to the fact. God, Veronica loved that dog.

Madison jumped at the bark, her face showing just a hint of apprehension. "I mean, yes, it's my locker, but that _thing_ is not mine."

"Perhaps you didn't realize it was drug paraphernalia? Although the alternative is still against the rules of this school."

The blond cheerleader was cherry red in the face by now. "Are you some kind of idiot?" she screeched.

Veronica wondered if she'd temporarily forgotten she was talking to the school's vice principal. Clemmons' face set into hardened lines. He opened his mouth to speak, but the now-enraged Ms. Sinclair had worked herself up to a rant. Veronica was amused to see Lilly and a few other students pulling out their mobile phones to video the exchange.

"I _said_ that wasn't mine, and it's not! I don't even do marijuana, it's way too stinky! And you think I'd be stupid enough to bring a dildo to school and leave it in my locker instead of hiding it in my nightstand like a normal person? Do you know how _gross_ that would be? Especially with your pervy janitors or whatever doing the cleaning? Ugh!"

"That is enough!" Clemmons interrupted after a few moments of staring agape at the cheerleader. "Ms. Sinclair, you are to report to my office immediately. If you insist that the item is not yours, an investigation will be made into the matter, and if it turns out that it _is_ yours, I'm sure Deputy Sacks will inform you that you may be looking at an additional charge of falsifying a report. Either way, we will be having words about your attitude, young lady."

Madison let out a wordless shriek, slammed her locker shut, and stomped away, escorted in the direction of the vice principal's office by one of the teachers Clemmons had beckoned over.

As she passed Veronica and Wallace in the corridor, Madison stopped. "Was it you?" she demanded, her voice shrill.

Veronica raised her eyebrows and adopted an expression of exaggerated innocence, pointing at herself in a "Who? Me?" kind of gesture.

"I know it was you! This isn't over!" The cheerleader was shrieking now. Veronica made a show of yawning. "You think you're so cute? I'll get you for this! I will!"

The teacher escorting Madison took the girl by the arm and pulled her away. "I'll get you, Veronica Mars!"

"And your little dog too!" Wallace whisper-mocked, making Veronica giggle.

"Guess now we know where you keep your sex toys, Maddy!" Lilly hollered after her. Veronica rolled her eyes while beside her, Wallace started to snicker. Many of the students who'd witnessed the scene were doing the same.

"That's enough, Ms. Kane. Shouldn't you be heading to your next class?"

"But I was superbly entertained right here!"

"I'd like to remind you that the goal of your attendance at this school is education, not entertainment. But I suppose I should just be grateful you're here at all."

"I do light up the halls with my presence, don't I?"

Veronica bit down on the urge to smile at Lilly's audaciousness. Clemmons frowned at the milling crowd. "Move along, people, move along!"

Suddenly everyone seemed to have somewhere else to be, and the hallway filled with the shuffling of students.

Corny strolled past Veronica with a goofy grin on his face. "Solid!" he said, offering a discreet fist in her direction. She bumped it obligingly and grinned back at him.

"You're right," Wallace told her. "That _was_ funny."

"Meet you after school for Phase 2?"

"Absolutely."

He headed off to class while Veronica stuffed a couple of books in her locker. She turned and frowned when she noticed that Buster, whom Sacks had started to lead away from the scene, stopped and stiffened, his nose scenting the air.

"What is it, boy?" Sacks asked, transferring his leash to his other hand as he held the evidence bag that contained the ceramic cock bong. The dog tugged his handler toward Lilly, then passed her, moving toward the locker beside hers, on the opposite side from where Veronica used to have her locker.

Buster stopped in front of Logan's locker, and Veronica's stomach bottomed out when he barked three times. The signal for when he'd found something he'd been trained to detect.

Lilly turned wide eyes at Veronica, who shook her head subtly. Veronica turned to the end of the hall where she knew Logan had been standing, talking to Dick Casablancas. He met her gaze, a question in his brown eyes. Veronica widened her eyes and twitched one shoulder to indicate she had no idea what was going on. His gaze shifted toward the deputy and dog, then narrowed, his jaw tight.

"Whose locker is this?" Deputy Sacks asked. "Looks like we've found another stash of contraband today."

Clemmons walked forward. "I'm not sure, but I can check."

"It's mine," Logan said, shoulders squared, face bored. But Veronica recognized the lines of tension around his eyes, the nervous way he tugged at the long sleeves of his green overshirt.

"Well, would you please come over here and open it for inspection, Mr. Echolls?"

Logan walked down the hallway. Veronica knew by his measured steps—not his usual lope when relaxed or the skip-shuffle she did _not_ find adorable when he was happy—that he was very, very worried. She was too.

He leaned one arm on the locker next to his, then made a show of carelessly spinning the dial and opening the locker. "There you go," he said.

Once again, Clemmons stepped forward. Veronica angled her head so she could see what he was looking at. Logan's locker held a few books and notebooks. The back of the door was bare, where once it would have been decorated with photos of him and Lilly, just for show.

Then Clemmons reached in and pulled out a baggie filled with a couple of vials of liquid. "What's this?" he demanded.

"That's not mine." Logan had lost all color in his face.

 _Jesus_ , Veronica thought, her mind panicking. _His dad is home this week_.

"That's the second time I've heard that today," Clemmons said mildly.

"It's _not_ ," Logan snapped. "Look, man. I don't do that stuff."

"And yet despite being unlabeled, you know exactly what 'that stuff' is. You can understand why we might find that somewhat suspicious, Mr. Echolls."

"Very suspicious," Sacks added. He pulled out an evidence bag, and Clemmons dropped the baggie into it.

"Let's take this to my office," Clemmons said. "I think you may want to give your sheriff a call."

Sacks glanced in Veronica's direction before turning his gaze toward the vice principal. "Yeah," he said. "That's probably a good idea."

As they spoke, Veronica kept her gaze locked on Logan's. He was pale beneath his tan, lips pinched. She knew as well as he did what was in those vials, given that a mutual acquaintance had just snuck Duncan Kane one the day before. And she knew what would happen when Aaron got a call about his son having date rape drugs in his high school locker.

She dug her mobile out of her jeans pocket, waved it to Logan, gave him what she hoped was a reassuring look. It must have worked because some of the tension around his mouth loosened, and he mouthed the words "thank you" at her before allowing Sacks to take him away.

She was moving in the next instant, headed toward the girls' bathroom.

By now the hallway was half-empty, though several people had stopped to stare. "Oh, man, Logan's busted!" someone exclaimed in a suspiciously delighted tone of voice.

Veronica narrowed her eyes but didn't have the time to stop and to identify the speaker, and she was mildly surprised when Dick Casablancas shoved another boy against a wall. "Shut the fuck up," the blond surfer snarled just as Veronica swept into the bathroom.

She pulled a rubber stopper from its hiding place under the sink, used it to barricade the door, and then checked under the stalls to make sure no one else was there. She stopped when she saw Lilly sitting atop the closed lid of the toilet in the last stall, nodded when the other girl raised a finger to her lips.

Then she pulled out the number for the Echolls household and made the call. Letitia Navarro barely managed to say hello before Veronica was talking over her. "Hi, Mrs. Navarro," she said. "I need to talk to Mr. Echolls really quick. It's an emergency."

" _Mr. Echolls would not be happy to be disturbed_ ," the housekeeper said carefully.

"Another boy planted GHB in Logan's locker to get him into trouble during a routine drug inspection at the school today," she snapped in reply.

" _I will get him for you_."

The housekeeper must have answered the wireless phone in the living area, as it wasn't too long before Veronica heard knocking on the other end of the line.

" _What? I told you not to disturb me!_ "

" _It_ _'s Veronica Mars, Mr. Echolls_ ," Mrs. Navarro could be heard saying. " _She said it was an emergency_."

" _Veronica? Are you in school? What_ _'s this about?_ " Aaron Echolls sounded like an indulgent father. He must have practiced to achieve that warm, concerned tone because Veronica knew it wasn't out of any kind of real emotion.

She didn't have to fake the panic in her voice. "Mr. Echolls, Mr. Echolls, I think I got Logan into trouble, and the school's gonna call you soon."

She smiled gratefully at Lilly as the other girl silently came up beside her and started rubbing her back comfortingly.

" _Calm down, Veronica, and tell me what the matter is_."

 _What the matter is, is you_ _'re an abusive fuck and I have to do damage control because other parents would ground their kids but that isn't punishment enough for the son of Aaron fucking Echolls._ She took a deep breath. Remembered that the best lies were true ones. "You remember that guy Logan was warning me about? Troy? He's been kind of hitting on me at school lately, and he's a creep. And yesterday Logan got in his way when he was trying to charm me into going out with him or something."

" _That_ _'s good. I've told Logan time and time again that a man looks out for his friends, especially when they are beautiful damsels in distress._ "

 _Oh brother._ "Yeah, well last night Duncan was chatting with us and told us the guy was bragging about having GHB. And one day after Logan messes with Troy's plans, there's a vial of GHB in his locker. Logan swore it wasn't his, but I don't think the principal believes him. There's no proof, but I know it's Troy's, Mr. Echolls."

" _Someone framed my son?!_ " Aaron's voice was full of outrage, heavy on the rage.

Veronica's hand tightened on the phone. She didn't bother to control the tremor in her voice when she whispered, "I think so."

" _I_ _'m going to head over there right now! Heads are gonna roll. I'm Aaron Echolls, damn it, and he's my son._ "

She groaned inwardly. "Please, Mr. Echolls, please wait for Mr. Clemmons to call? I'm—I'm supposed to be in class but I snuck out to the bathroom to call you so you would know what happened. I was gonna call Sheriff Lamb next, cause he's a friend of my dad's. Maybe call my dad? Oh, what should I do, Mr. Echolls?"

" _All right, Veronica. I_ _'m going to call my lawyer and give him a heads up while I wait for the call from your school. I'd appreciate it if you could mention to your dad that I'll definitely want to hire MIS to look into this if the local cops prove incompetent. I'll give Sheriff Lamb a call myself."_

"Will I have to testify?"

" _I_ _'m sure it won't get that far. In fact, I'll make sure of it._ "

"Th-thanks, Mr. Echolls."

" _No problem. And I thought I told you to call me Aaron? You say hi to your dad when you talk to him, tell him Aaron Echolls sends his regards. Thank you for calling me. You_ _'re a good friend to my son._ "

"I'm pretty sure the drugs wouldn't have been in his locker if he hadn't gotten between Troy and me."

" _Nonsense. He was doing the right thing, what I taught him to do. If this Troy you mention really is behind this, you can be sure it_ _'s his fault and his fault alone. And he's going to get what's coming to him, or my name isn't Aaron Echolls._ "

Veronica rolled her eyes. Did he really have to say his name so often? It wasn't like she didn't know it. "Okay, Mr. Echolls. I'd better get off the phone before somebody catches me. Logan will be okay? He won't go to jail?"

" _Absolutely. I would never let them lock Logan in a jail cell. Why don_ _'t you come over after school later? I'll make sure my lawyer is there, and you can tell him everything that's going on. In fact, why don't you come over for dinner? Invite your parents, if your dad isn't too busy._ "

"I'll be there. I promised I'd help out this new kid after school, and I can't get out of that, but I'll call my dad during the break. I'm pretty sure he'll agree to dinner tonight when I tell him what it's about, though I'm not sure if my mom's home today."

" _All right. I_ _'ll let Lynn and Letty know, so we can make a little dinner party of it. Thank you again for calling, Veronica._ "

"Bye, Mr. Echolls."

She hung up and heaved a big sigh. Scrubbed a hand down her face.

Lilly smirked. "Dinner at Casa Echolls, I presume?"

"Yeah. He wants me to bring my dad. And my mom too, but you know he really only cares about hobnobbing with Dad."

"Don't I know it." Lilly rolled her eyes. "So, Troy, huh? I'll let Duncan know what you told Aaron so he can corroborate if he needs to."

"Thanks, Lilly." Veronica's voice ended in a yelp as her sister wrapped her arms around her and squeezed, going so far as to lift her off her feet.

"Veronica Mars! I miss you so much!"

"I miss you too, Lilly."

"And up until Logan got in trouble, that bong was a masterwork! Madison's _face_ , ohmigod! And that screeching!"

Veronica smiled a little at that. "Yeah, that was fun."

"Fun? Veronica, that was divine! You totally smote her ass with your big dick of vengeance."

"Har, har. Thank you very much, and remember your promise to be a bitch. Now go to class because if we both skip at the same time, people will be suspicious."

"What are you gonna do?"

"Call Don. Also, Wallace gave me a couple of excuse slips that I can forge, but I can't use them for you because he might get suspicious."

"Fine, fine, I'm going." Lilly took the opportunity to grab another hug. "Go pull some strings, puppet master! And call me after you get home from Logan's place! I need some sis-on-sis bonding, even if it has to be on the telephone."

"Fine. Just go already." She pulled the door stopper off, and Lilly peeked outside then skipped out before Veronica stopped the door again.

Then Veronica pulled Don Lamb's number up on her phone and dialed it.

" _Veronica. What the hell is your boy up to?_ "

"He's not my boy, and he isn't up to anything. The drugs are a plant related to that other case I mentioned to you before."

" _His dad_ _'s gonna be pissed._ "

"I talked to him, told him what was going on. Act surprised if he tells you anything. Don't mention I talked to you."

" _Teach your grandma to suck eggs, why don_ _'t you. I thought I told you to stay away from Aaron Echolls_."

"I did. I only called him. You know why I did it."

" _Fine. I_ _'m headed to your school as we speak._ "

"Great. Make sure you store the GHB beside the other bit of contraband Sacks collected today."

" _GHB? Are you fucking kidding me, Veronica? GHB? You know what that shit is for!_ "

"Yes, and it's suspected that the guy who planted it on Logan was planning to use it on me." She held the phone away from her ear as the sheriff squawked into it. "Get your head in the game, Donnie, because I'm going to destroy him."

" _Fine. Let me know how I can help._ "

"For now, just store the stuff near a smoke detector."

" _You got it. I_ _'m assuming you've talked to Bill. And possibly bribed our fair fire chief with cookies. The type of which I will also expect to receive sometime soon._ "

"But of course. Talk to you later."

" _Just make sure you keep me in the loop._ "

Veronica hung up. She would loop him in when necessary. She called up the next person on her agenda.

" _Veronica?_ "

"Hey, Dad."

" _Do my ears deceive me, or is my darling daughter skipping_ _… what is it? English class? Will I have to prepare an alibi for you?_ "

"Har, har. I've snuck an excuse slip, so no one is gonna call you."

" _Petty corruption. Sometimes I worry about the things I_ _'ve taught you. Other times I am tempted to shed a proud tear._ "

"Dad, I need your help."

" _What do you need?_ " All teasing was gone from Keith's voice. Quickly, Veronica outlined what she'd told Aaron. It had the benefit of being the entire truth. " _I don_ _'t like the sound of this Troy Vandegraff, Veronica. I'm going to be doing a little digging._ "

"You have my blessing to use your biggest shovel." She bit her lip. "You'll help, though, right?"

" _Honey, I like Logan. Of course I_ _'ll help, even if it means spending an entire dinner in the company of Logan's douchebag of a sperm donor. I'd offer Echolls the investigation pro bono, but I have no compunction about taking that bastard's money to do something I would've done for free._ "

"Thanks, Dad. I promise you Logan is innocent."

" _I know, sweetie. Even if Logan were dumb enough to do drugs, he wouldn't be dumb enough to keep them in his locker. And I'd believe Vicodin or Oxy over GHB._ "

Veronica's eyes narrowed at his words and tone. "What are you saying, Dad?"

" _That I have no problems about you dropping everything to visit your friends, even late at night. And I approve of your dressing like a ten-year-old when you do so._ "

"Dad—"

" _Plausible deniability. But I want you to come home before dinner instead of going straight to the Echolls place. We'll drive there together. And you're gonna dress like you're Daddy's little princess."_

"I'm Daddy's little superhero, that's what."

" _I know that, and you know that I know that. But Aaron Echolls doesn't know that._ "

"Fine. And I'm sorry you'll have to talk to him all evening. He'll probably refer to himself in the third person whenever he can."

" _It will only further confirm his douchebaggery. Who knows? It'll give me the chance to talk Lynn into letting me do a little more investigation than she's allowed thus far. I can also talk him into supporting your little business venture by hiring you to keep an eye on Troy while you're at school._ "

"Thanks, Dad. You'll talk to Mom?"

" _No can do, sweetie. I_ _'m afraid it's just me tonight. Your mom's on a spa vacation. Spacation? Spaycation? No, wait that sounds like she's off getting a hysterectomy._ "

"Eww."

" _Now, go back to class. Learn something. And tell Bill I said hi when you see him._ "

"Bill who? You mean Fire Chief Bill?"

" _Plausible deniability, number one daughter. Plausible deniability._ "

All morning, all anyone could talk about was Madison and Logan getting busted on the same day. By the time the lunch bell tolled, the verdict was out: both would be suspended pending an investigation of the items found in their lockers.

Wallace met Veronica at their lunch table and proceeded to give her an update on what everyone was saying. She'd found that people tended to watch their tongues less around the new kid than they did around her.

"No way," she said when Wallace told her some of the 09ers thought they'd both done it on purpose so they could get time off to hook up. "Logan would never get with Madison Sinclair. He would have to be blind drunk or drugged before he touched her."

Wallace frowned. "How do you know?"

"I may no longer be led around the nose by the dictators of 09erdom, but I still know Logan and Lilly pretty well."

"Well, speaking of Lilly Kane, the other theory is that Madison hit on Logan and the queen bee decided to teach them both a lesson."

"That's so typical."

"Yup."

Veronica watched without pretending to notice as Troy Vandegraff made his way toward their table. She stomped down on the rage building in her chest and fought to keep her face amused.

"You talking about the cops busting down on a couple of 09ers?" Troy asked as he sat down beside her. He'd positioned himself so when he rested his elbows on the table, his hand brushed hers. She had to fight not to snatch it away. "Crazy, huh? And it's only the first week of school."

Veronica glanced at Wallace, who shrugged, then turned to the sack of worm food in human skin beside her. She smirked at him. "It's a dangerous world we live in."

"You know, I could've sworn I saw you sneaking around with a package in hand after school was out yesterday."

Veronica's eyes narrowed at him, but he just smiled at her blandly. Well, at least she'd confirmed he'd been around and therefore had the opportunity to plant the drugs as well as the means and motive to do so. Plus it proved he wasn't above blackmail or extortion, if he was mentioning it at all. "I have no idea what you are talking about. But thanks for changing my tire the other day."

"Well, then, my mistake. Probably. And you're welcome." He paused. "How's that spare tire holding up?"

"Ah, there it is! The quid pro quo."

"Hey, this great nation of ours was built on quid pro quo." She just raised her eyebrow at him, so he rushed to continue. "I'm having a party tomorrow, as a kind of 'I'm new to the neighborhood, I come in peace' sort of thing. You should come." He glanced at Wallace. "Well, both of you."

Wallace grinned. "Cool."

"But—" Troy turned back to Veronica and actually _winked_. She kept her face cool while her blood boiled. "Especially you."

"Haven't you heard?" She must have inherited her talent for lying from her mother because somehow, somehow, she kept her voice light. "I'm only an 09er by zip code. Ever since I dared offend their queen, I haven't been allowed in the first class cabin."

Troy scowled at her, then licked his lips. Because that wasn't creepy at all. Then he arranged his face into an approximation of what she suspected he thought of as all-American charm.

"Look, uh, I don't believe in much, but I do believe in this: when sexy, sassy girls can't come to a shindig of mine, it's time for all parties involved to just stand up and admit that, hey, maybe I was a little bit wrong. So sorry. I mean, let bygones be bygones. Screw pride. Let's dance." He moved in his seat like a stripper giving a lapdance. _Is that supposed to be sexy?_ Veronica was tempted to dump her drink on him. "Baby, let's dance!"

Wallace rolled his eyes at Veronica, then said, "That was beautiful, man."

Troy shrugged and gave Wallace a kind of aww-shucks look. Obviously, sarcasm was lost on him.

"We'll see," Veronica said, voice bored.

"Keep an open mind. That's all I ask."

"Whatever. Now, shoo fly, don't bother me. Wallace and I are talking."

Obligingly, Troy stood and headed back to the 09er tables. "Well," Wallace said. "He's an interesting guy. That should be a pretty interesting party."

"Don't tell me you actually want to go."

"Nah. He wasn't really inviting me. Just thought it'd make him look bad in front of you if he didn't."

"Well look at you, Mr. Perceptive."

"Ha! Now what's the plan?"

"You don't have a car right?"

"Nope. I'm afraid I am a poor plebeian forced to take the bus to and from school."

"Oh, stop it already. Meet me at my car after school, and you can join me for the fun part. Assuming you still want in?"

"Hell yeah, I'm in!"

"Good. See you then."

* * *

Veronica parked her car outside the Balboa County Sheriff's Department, then sat back and glanced over at Wallace. He was clutching an antennaed remote controller in his hands, staring at it thoughtfully. She'd been pleasantly surprised to learn he was a model airplane enthusiast, and he had willingly sacrificed one of his sets to the save-his-ass project when she'd asked him for parts.

"Now, we could get in a lot of trouble for this," he said finally.

She glanced at his face, the worry lines wrinkling his brow. "Give it here," she said, and snatched the remote out of his hands.

"Wait," he said, grabbing it and yanking it back. "I'm gonna do it. Just thought one of us should state the obvious."

"That it's obvious should tell you it doesn't need stating."

He glared at her. "How do you even know it will work, anyway? Have you done this before?"

She rolled her eyes. "Maybe not with an incendiary cock bong, but yeah. This isn't my first prank."

"Fart sprays are pranks. This is some next-level shit."

She grinned. "Welcome to Neptune! Now are you going to flip the switch or what? My source inside is only going to keep the evidence room clear for another thirty minutes."

"Fine, fine." He pulled out the antenna so it was deployed as far as it would go, then flicked the switch. "Well, that was kind of anticlimactic. Wonder if it worked."

She smirked. "O ye of little faith. Wait for it."

Suddenly, people started streaming out of the building, and a siren could be heard from the direction of the fire station, which was one block over.

Veronica grinned at Wallace. "It worked." A fire truck pulled up behind her car, blocking them in. She pulled out a textbook and settled in. "This is going to take a while."

"Dang. Should've left while we had the chance."

"And flee the scene of the crime? I would prefer not to look like a guilty party, thank you very much."

"Should've warned me. I would've brought my history book home with me today instead of just calculus."

Veronica reached into the back seat and pulled her history textbook out of her backpack, then handed it to him. She also pulled out a big bag of chips. Then she reached into the car fridge she'd finagled her dad into paying for and grabbed a couple of bottles of Skist. "Eat, study, hydrate."

"Wow, you came prepared," Wallace said, suitably impressed as she handed him his bottle.

She grinned. "I never was a girl scout, but you wouldn't be able to tell from the way I operate."

"I'm starting to see that."

They studied in relative silence for the next hour or so, until the fire truck pulled away. Veronica put her book aside then and turned to Wallace. "Where to?"

"Eh, just drop me at a bus stop. I called in sick to work today, so might as well go home."

"I can drop you off," she offered.

"Nah, it's out of your way, especially if you're headed to the fire department after this. Plus my brother will be home, and if he sees your car, he'll want to know who you are, and if my mom's there, she'll insist you come in—"

Veronica smirked. "So early in our friendship and ashamed of me already?"

"Naw, you're pretty fly—"

"For a white guy?"

Wallace snorted. "You're not a guy. Anyway, was just gonna say you mentioned at lunch you had a dinner thing tonight, and I know you're stopping off at the fire department before going home, so maybe next time? I appreciate the offer though."

"All right. But now that you've reminded me I have a dinner thing tonight, I'm going to need some fortifying coffee. And chocolate. If you're not in a rush, want to come with? My treat."

"Only if you let me buy. It's my ass you're saving."

"Not only, but you're on."

Thirty minutes later, caffeinated and chocolated up, she dropped Wallace off at the bus stop, then drove over to the fire station. As she came in, she saw two of the fire fighters setting up a weight bench.

"Hey, Adam. Hey, Eddie. Is the chief around?"

One of the firemen glanced back at her, then nodded at someone behind her. "Well, if it isn't Smokey the Barely Legal."

She turned and grinned widely at Neptune's fire chief, who happened to be one of her dad's and Lamb's poker buddies. "I saw you in action today, Bill. You were very brave! Did you make the switch?"

Bill handed her an envelope. " _Fait accompli_." He held it for a moment as she reached for it. "Now, the tape you had me put in its place isn't going to make trouble for my Donnie boy, is it?"

She gave him a look of mock indignation as she tugged the envelope out of his grasp. "Who do you think I am? No, they'll blame it on the fire. I just magnetized it, so nothing'll show when they pop it into the VCR."

"Good. And might I say, that was a skillful bit of arson you did back there."

"I can neither confirm or deny my involvement."

"Plausible deniability?" He grinned.

She nodded. "Exactamento, my dear Bill."

"Well, whosoever rigged that bong must have had magic hands and a thorough knowledge of evidence storage protocol. The fire it sparked pretty much burned itself out after quickly consuming everything in one little section. It only seemed as big as it did because the device had a smoke bomb alongside it."

"Sounds like somebody knows his stuff."

"Yeah. Somebody definitely knows _her_ stuff. I'm not gonna catch flak from your dad for this am I?"

"Just roll out the good ole PD."

He rolled his eyes at her, then patted her head fondly. "I don't ever want to know just how much Keith can deny under the banner of plausible deniability, kid."

"What, you think you're dealing with amateurs here?"

The fire chief grinned. "I know I'm not. Which is why, gimme." He wiggled his fingers.

She lifted up a paper bag, and he grabbed onto it with greedy paws. "Two dozen snickerdoodles, as ordered."

"Not so loud! The others might hear, and I'm not sharing!" He looked right and left. "Now get going before someone wonders why you're here.

She grinned. "See ya later, Bill. Nice doing business with you."

"Same, as always. Now scram!"

So Veronica scrammed, drove herself home. She arrived just in time to don a somewhat loose sweater with a purple and gray argyle design, a black knee-length skirt, black leggings, and gray ankle boots. She pulled her hair into stumpy little pigtails, piled on gloss and cheek shimmer, then met her dad in the foyer.

"How do I look?" she asked, twirling like a model on a catwalk.

"Prepubescent," Keith replied approvingly.

"Perfect."

* * *

END NOTE: For the next chapter update, we're back to our regularly scheduled programming, so expect it on 30 December 2018 to ring out the year with!


	12. I'm Your Angel Undercover

**Chapter 12: I'm Your Angel Undercover**

* * *

SUMMARY: Veronica and Keith have dinner with the Echolls family.

* * *

AUTHOR'S NOTE: I posted an extra chapter on December 22, and you MUST read it before reading this one, or you will probably find yourself confused from the first paragraph. So in case you missed it then, surprise! You now have two additional chapters to read.

* * *

Keith had decided to take the beat up black LeBaron convertible he kept in the garage for when he wanted to go somewhere incognito. Lamb and some of the agents at MIS were known to borrow it for stakeouts as well. As had Veronica, but her father didn't have to know about that.

When she'd asked her dad about his car choice, he'd snickered. "I just like the thought of this gracing the oh-so-carefully-posh Echolls driveway for a whole evening. Maybe there will be paparazzi and he'll have to pose with it in the background."

Veronica rolled her eyes, but climbed in. Let her dad have his fun. They were well rewarded when the movie star came to greet them at the front door and Veronica caught a glimpse of his grimace. Logan, standing beside his mom and behind his dad, smiled broadly.

"Hey, Mr. Mars, Veronica! Welcome to Casa de Echolls!"

His cheerful tones seemed to jolt Aaron out of his contemplation of the LeBaron, and he raised his eyes to Keith and rushed forward with a hand outstretched. "Keith!" Aaron said, all but oozing fake joviality. "So glad you could help us out with this little fiasco."

"No problem," Keith said mildly as he shook Aaron's hand and exchanged air kisses with Lynn. "Anything for Logan. Especially as, from what I understand, he took the hit in the line of duty. I hear someone deliberately let the air out of Veronica's tires yesterday, and I find it extremely convenient that this Troy character was there to help her out right when she needed it. I'm glad Logan swept in and offered her a ride to the Gold Coast."

Aaron frowned. "Gold Coast? Logan, you didn't mention leaving Neptune." A thread of irritation wove through his voice.

"It was for the school paper," Veronica piped in, bouncing on the balls of her feet a little bit. "I just joined, and I got assigned to take photos! Duncan was gonna cover it, but he had a doctor's appointment and had to cancel at the last minute, so he asked Logan to do the article instead. Ms. Dent told me our article would be on the front page next issue!"

Behind his father, Logan rolled his eyes at her. He liked to tease her about how her "Amber" persona tended to really overwork her exclamation points. Veronica scrunched up her nose and smiled at him ingratiatingly. She flicked a glance at him and let her eyebrows furrow just a hair before smoothing it out again. He took his cue and said, "Yeah, Dad. You were having that do-not-disturb meeting with your agent, I think, and it was really last minute. I was gonna leave you a message when I noticed Troy making the moves on Veronica."

"Ah, that explains it. Well, all's well that ends well, as they say. And hopefully we'll be saying it once we get the pesky matter of these charges dropped. You can imagine I don't want the press getting wind of this."

"If they do, we'll be sure to correct them once the truth comes to light," Keith said reassuringly. "I'd be happy to provide Logan with a character testimony—in court or in the public arena."

A calculating gleam lit Aaron's eyes, and Veronica could tell that he was weighing the social benefits of having Keith Mars go to bat for his son versus having the whole matter resolved and shoved under the rug.

"Thank you, Keith," the movie star said finally. "But let's hope it won't come to that, eh? Come in, come in. Logan, find out what they want to drink and get it for them. I hope you don't mind if I leave you in the capable hands of my wife and son. I've recently learned to embrace the culinary arts, and it's a great night for grilling, so I've got to go put some steaks on."

He retreated into the house ahead of them. After a moment, Logan smirked. "Don't worry, Mr. M, Ronnie. My dad's a far better cook than he is an actor."

"Logan!" His mother tried to look reproachful, but Veronica saw a glimmer of amusement on her face too.

Veronica grinned as they were led toward the patio dining area. "I'm always happy to eat good food."

Keith rolled his eyes. "You're always happy to eat any food, my little human trash disposal." He turned to Lynn. "I hope Aaron made a lot of food. It's a good thing I make a good living, or my daughter would eat me out of house and home."

The actress laughed, gesturing for them to take a seat at the elegantly set table. "Aaron always makes plenty, and I've had Veronica over often enough to know that Logan will sneak food onto her plate if Aaron tries to give her what he calls a lady's portion."

Keith smirked. "Veronica can get a lumberjack's portion, and she'll still try to steal food off Logan's plate."

Logan smiled proudly. "I'm told I have been well trained."

"As have we all, son. As have we all."

"Father, why must you betray me in this way?"

"Daughter, it is in the interest of self-preservation, to ensure that the rest of us at this table have enough to eat when dining with you."

Lynn let out a peal of laughter. To Logan, she said, "Oh, aren't they cute?"

"Who is?" Aaron approached with a pair of tongs in one hand and a plate in the other. He wore an apron that read, "Kiss the cook or eat nothing." Veronica was tempted to puke in her mouth a little; she thought she would rather starve.

"Keith was just warning me that Veronica has, er, a healthy appetite," Lynn said. Her voice still held a lilt from her laughter, but her smile no longer reached her eyes.

"Good to know!" Aaron said. "I just hate cooking for women who are always on a diet." His eyes raked over Veronica in a way that creeped her out. "And it's not like you need to diet, Veronica."

"No she doesn't," Logan said evenly. "She's perfect as she is."

"Aww, isn't he the sweetest, Veronica?" Lynn cooed. "My Logan knows how to compliment a lady."

"He's pretty great," Veronica agreed, smiling tightly at the older woman. She still felt Aaron's eyes on her and suppressed the urge to shudder.

"You know." Lynn leaned in, looped an arm around Veronica's, and continued in what she probably thought was a lowered voice but really was just her normal speaking volume—now that Veronica was seated next to her, she could smell the booze breeze wafting off the woman. "I always thought you and Logan would make a cute couple."

"Um."

"And I never thought he and Lilly would be a good fit. She's a dear, but a little too flighty to ground him, I think. So I'm glad he's out of that rather volatile relationship. Maybe once the dust settles, he'll clue into what a great girl you are and ask you out."

Veronica cast panicked eyes at Logan, who was sitting next to her, at the end of the table. He smirked and said, "I would, but I don't think she'd have me."

Keith cleared his throat. "I would prefer she didn't date until she got her MBA, if my opinion counts for anything."

Aaron laughed. "As someone who has survived his daughter's teenage years, I can only sympathize with you, Keith." He used the tongs in his hand to gesture toward the plate he was still holding. "But please, let me serve up these crab cakes before they get cold."

He proceeded to place one on Keith's plate, then Lynn's, then Veronica's. Before he could move on to Logan's, Veronica tilted her head at him. "Mr. Echolls, Logan says I get his share."

He frowned. "He does?"

Veronica grinned. "Yep! He was telling me how good of a cook you were, and that I wouldn't be able to not want seconds before I'd even finished my first serving of whatever you made."

"Oh, ah, I didn't realized he'd been all that impressed with my dabbling in the kitchen," Aaron said, but he was clearly pleased.

"Oh, totally. He was telling me you could even be a chef instead of an actor, if you wanted! So I told him, after that, I might be stealing stuff off his plate. So you might as well give me his share. Please?"

Aaron laughed. "All right, little lady. Logan, you be careful, or this one will be leading you around by the nose in no time."

Logan offered up a strained smile. "Yeah, probably."

"That just means she'll have trained him well," Keith said.

"Thank you, Daddy."

Aaron chuckled. "All right, but no stealing my son's steak, Ms. Mars. I'll throw an extra one on the grill for you."

She beamed. "Thanks, Mr. Echolls."

He wandered back in the direction of the grill, and Logan blew out a breath. She sent him a small smile when he mouthed the words "thank you" at her.

Lynn shook her head. "I guess this whole locker situation had him forgetting that Logan's allergic to shellfish," she said a little unsteadily. "Sorry about that."

Keith smiled at her. "You have nothing to apologize for."

"Meanwhile," Veronica said, having just swallowed her first bite of crab cake, "this is pretty decent, so I'm glad I got seconds."

Keith rolled his eyes. "What can I tell you?" He gave Lynn and Logan a helpless look. "It's like she's got a hollow leg or something!"

* * *

They stuck to small talk throughout dinner; Keith had brought up the incident once or twice, but Aaron had suggested they wait until after dessert to decamp to the living room and discuss what he had taken to calling the Locker Situation.

As it turned out, Aaron had planned to have his lawyer join them for dinner, but Lynn had dissuaded him, saying it would be best if they could talk to Keith about the matter before seeking legal help. Veronica had smiled when she'd learned that; Logan's mom was really sweet, and when she emerged out of her alcoholic haze, she was actually pretty sharp too.

Midway through dessert, security alerted them to the presence of the Balboa County Sheriff outside the Echolls gate. In a way, Veronica was grateful for the interruption. There was a strain to keeping up appearances for Aaron; she could only imagine the exhaustion Logan and Lynn felt, living with him day in and day out.

Aaron and Keith left the table to greet the sheriff.

Lynn looked at Logan and Veronica. "Why don't we take this opportunity to move into the living room so we can get to the bottom of this?"

Veronica looked sadly at her half-eaten bowl of mint-and-chip gelato. "Do we have to?"

Lynn chuckled. "Bring your bowl with you. But take your time. I'm going to get some glasses and wine for the adults. Logan, keep her company until you're both ready to come in or until your father calls, whichever comes first."

"Sure, Mom."

Lynn nodded and reached out to ruffle Logan's hair, then she stood and walked into the house, closing the patio door behind her.

Veronica smiled. "Lamb is probably informing your dad and mine that all the evidence in your case has just gone poof and you can go back to school on Monday."

He stared at her for a moment, then smiled and shook his head. "You're amazing, you know that? I don't know what you said to my dad, but when he came into the school today, he was pissed, but not at me. He threatened to sue the school."

She snorted. "Like that would do any good. Anyway, I think this little incident puts Troy as priority one on our hit list."

Logan clenched his jaw, his gaze going flat and furious. "You'll get no arguments from me on that front."

She nodded. "Who knows? Aaron may actually be of use to us in this instance. And my dad will help too. We just need to straighten out our stories on what to tell them when they come back to question us."

"What do they know so far?"

"Well, I didn't say anything about having proof Troy did it, though when he talked to me at lunch today, he hinted heavily that he had seen me put the bong in Madison's locker. So there's no doubt in my mind, especially since I could see that you recognized the type of vial they found."

Logan nodded. "It was the exact same kind Troy passed off to Duncan."

"Okay. So I told your dad that you intercepted Troy coming onto me yesterday while he was fixing my tire. And my dad already made some suspicious comments when we arrived."

"Although, I should probably tell you that the tires were my doing. Or rather Dick and Enbom's doing, on my orders. I wanted an excuse to get you to ride to the surf competition with me, so we could talk."

"I remember. But we don't have to mention that. I am pretty sure my dad did a background check, which should reveal a history with drug possession issues and how he got kicked out of three schools on the East Coast before coming to sunny California."

"That's gonna push Aaron to get Keith to dig up dirt on Troy." Logan frowned. "The guy's a dick, and he's a crook, but I don't think I want him to catch more than what's coming to him."

"Relax, Lo," Veronica says, grabbing his hand and rubbing his knuckles with her thumb. "It'll be fine. My dad and I talked about how I wanna play this, and he agreed to take my lead on this. I've also made it work so we can hang out, as per your plan, under orders from your dad."

He was staring at their joined hands, a weird expression on his face. Veronica withdrew her hand, picked her spoon up and put on a show of finishing her gelato.

He sighed. "What do I need to know, then?"

She shrugged. "You already know the basics. Troy is a dick. The evidence has gone up in a cloud of—ha ha—smoke. Oh, and Dad and I have worked out a plan that's going to take your car away from you for a while."

He yelped. "Say what now?"

She smirked. "Feel free to react just like that when he suggests it."

"Veronica, what are you—"

"Logan! Veronica! Your dads want you to come inside. We've got some great news for you!"

She smirked and stood up. "Coming, Mrs. Echolls!"

Logan stood too. "Veronica—"

She smiled. "It'll be fine, Lo. Trust me."

He sighed. "I do."

* * *

In the living room, the adults were seated in cushy chairs, leaving the couch to Logan and Veronica. It was just as she'd predicted: Lamb had come around to inform Aaron that the substance taken from Logan's locker had been destroyed in a small fire that had started in the evidence storage room earlier that day.

Aaron had apparently remarked on the timing, and Lamb had simply shrugged and said Fire Chief Bill had blamed it on the old wiring in some of the county buildings, at which point Aaron had mentioned donating money to make sure the building was up to code.

"The long and short of it, Logan, is that you're free and clear," Keith said. "And in case you had planned on a little vacation your second week of school, you can forget it now. Clemmons will expect you back on Monday."

Logan smirked. "I can't wait to get learning."

"This brings me to my concerns, however," Veronica's dad continued. "We can't be sure of who placed that vial in your locker, especially now that an investigation will be impeded by the destruction of evidence." Keith's gaze flicked toward Veronica momentarily, before refocusing on Logan. "But there are enough coincidences in what Veronica told me earlier that I would suspect this Troy Vandegraff even had I not taken the time to run a background check on him."

Aaron frowned. "What did you find out, Keith?" He was using his concerned father voice again; Veronica wanted to puke.

"Troy Vandegraff has been kicked out of three private schools on the East Coast, following allegations of drug use and possession. He is a known associate of a young woman who has been arrested a few times for the same. The only thing that's kept these off his permanent record is the extensive connections his father has made."

Aaron frowned. "He can't be allowed to get away with this. With framing my son. I'm Aaron fucking Echolls."

Veronica tried not to smirk. Keith only regarded the other man coolly. "I'm not saying he be allowed to or be given the opportunity to mess with our kids again. But anything we find on him will have to hold up to scrutiny. And I'm not above giving the boy enough rope to hang himself with."

"So what's your plan?" Aaron stroked his chin in what Veronica thought was a textbook villainous pose.

Keith smiled a little, nodded to Veronica. "I'm going to put my daughter on the job. With the help of your son, I think. It shouldn't take too much, especially knowing the boy has only been here a week and is already making stupid mistakes. Lamb is already looking into him as well."

Aaron was frowning. "Veronica? What can she do?" He smiled at Veronica. "No offense, Veronica."

Keith shrugged. "She's been taught the basics of surveillance so this will be a great experience for her. And she can watch the guy at school. I doubt he would try anything with her on campus, and since she's already the photographer for the Neptune High newspaper, she'll have an excuse to bring her camera everywhere."

Lynn was frowning now too. "What about off-campus?" She brightened. "Wait, I guess that's where Logan comes in?"

Keith nodded. "Yes. I was thinking if we could find some excuse to ensure they go to and leave school together for a couple of weeks, that would be perfect."

"Keith, not that I'd be questioning your parenting methods, but are you sure it's safe for Veronica to interact with this boy? Logan can't always be around to help." Aaron was really doing up the whole concerned father schtick.

Keith smiled indulgently at Veronica. "She's been taking martial arts lessons since she was in grade school. She can handle some pimply-faced bad boy wannabe."

Veronica beamed at him. "Thanks, Dad. I've been practicing a lot at the dojo, Mr. Echolls. My teachers say I'm doing pretty good."

"That's good to know, Veronica," Aaron murmured.

"She's also started up a little junior PI business," Keith adds. "Helping her friends figure out if their jock boyfriends are stepping out on them, for example."

"Actually, Dad, my first case was the other way around. One of the guys on the football team had me investigating to see if his cheerleader girlfriend was cheating on him." She smirked. "I've seen her flirting with a guy from the lacrosse team, and Lilly says the cheerleaders tend to go for under-the-bleachers indiscretions, so I'm pretty sure I'll have a pic to show my new client soon."

"Good job, honey!" Keith reached over and patted her on the head. Veronica put on a show of beaming at him, but inwardly rolled her eyes. "Now, Aaron, I was thinking. How would you feel about restricting Logan's access to his car for the next couple of weeks?"

Logan stood up abruptly. "Excuse me?"

Aaron scowled. "Sit down, son." Logan did. To Keith, Aaron said, "Tell me more."

"Well, I was thinking that you might want to give the appearance of coming down hard on Logan over this drug incident and taking away his car keys for a couple of weeks. Of course, he still has to get to and from school, so you would ask Logan's responsible friend Veronica if she'd be willing to give him a ride in the mornings and afternoons."

Lynn clapped her hands. "I think that's a great idea."

Aaron was rubbing his chin. "Seems reasonable enough. I'm sure Logan will be amenable, if it keeps Veronica safe."

"Yeah, Dad. It's fine."

Veronica grinned. "You say that like I don't know you'll be missing your giant rubber duckie of an SUV."

Logan grimaced at the reminder. "You don't have to sound so dismissive of my baby."

"Logan. It's the color of an overripe banana."

Aaron laughed, saying, "She has you there, son," before going back to looking like a concerned father. "But you have more solid plans in place for dealing with this boy, don't you?"

Keith smirked. "Of course I do, but I didn't want to bore the kids with the details."

Lynn smiled. "Why don't we let them go then? It's been a pretty eventful day."

"I rode here with my dad, Mrs. Echolls," Veronica reminded her. She sighed. "I am kind of tired though."

"You poor dear. Logan can bring you home. His car privileges can be revoked tomorrow." Lynn looked at her son. "You don't mind, do you, Logan?"

"No, Mom. I'm happy to take Veronica home."

"All right. Do that, then stay til Keith gets home." To Keith, Lynn said, "I remember Lianne mentioned she would be away tonight."

"Yes," Keith said.

"Let me get you a beer or something, Keith," Aaron said. "Or maybe something stronger? Then you can give me some details on this plan of yours."

"Sounds good," Keith said. "Veronica, I'll see you later."

"All right, Dad," she said, picking up her bag and walking out with Logan.

Before they'd left the house, she heard her dad start to talk. She raised a finger to her lips, indicating that Logan should be quiet. "Thanks for encouraging Logan to help with this, Aaron. Veronica's got her heart dead set on becoming a private investigator, but really, I'm trying to angle her toward journalism instead."

"It's no problem, Keith. Veronica's a good friend to Logan—did she tell you she called me to give me a heads up on what was going on today? I'm happy to help him repay the favor. Although I'm not altogether comfortable with the idea of Veronica doing surveillance."

Keith laughed. "No problem. I'll be setting a guy to watch him in reality, but Veronica watching him at school is an idea with some merit, and if she is going to play Harriet the Spy anyway, I'd rather she had a friend with her than not."

Logan frowned at Keith's words. Veronica shook her head.

"Still here?" Lynn asked, seeming to appear out of nowhere, a glass of brandy in hand.

Veronica laughed awkwardly. "Ah, yeah, Mrs. Echolls. I was just asking Logan if he wanted to bring any school books with him, since it looks like he'll be staying at my house until my dad gets back."

"And I was just trying to tell her that I'm not about to spend a Friday night studying."

Lynn laughed. "Logan's right, Veronica, although I can see you absolutely deserve those straight As. Enjoy yourselves. Put on a movie or something. I think your dad will want to keep Keith here a while, and pick his brains a little."

"To eat them?" Logan mumbled. Veronica's mouth quirked in amusement.

Lynn laughed. "Get out of here before your dads catch you eavesdropping. And have fun, you two."

* * *

As they drove past the gate to the Echolls property, Veronica turned to Logan. "Why don't we drive down to the beach?"

Logan frowned. "Our parents think I'm driving you home."

"I texted my dad to let him know I was taking you for a last evening drive in your beloved banana boat."

"When was this?"

She snorted. "While I was sitting here watching you coo over its hood and tell your baby parting would be such sweet sorrow."

He smiled sheepishly. "Well, it will be!"

"I don't know if I should be amused or concerned by the fact that the great love of your life, after your breakup with Lilly, is your ugly-ass car."

"It's not, actually. Comes close though."

"Logan, you stroked its hood—"

"Her hood."

She rolled her eyes. "You stroked _her_ hood like you were making love to her."

"As if you knew what that would look like."

She snorted again. "Please, Logan. Lilly Kane is my best friend. And it's not like I've never been kissed. I am sixteen, after all."

Abruptly, he pulled the Xterra over to the side of the road. "What?"

She huffed. "Did I or did I not say that Lilly Kane was my best friend? Do you know how many times that girl has watched Cruel Intentions? She probably would've given me my first kiss if the whole sister thing hadn't made things squicky." She grinned. "So she got somebody else to stand in while she instructed."

"Who?"

"Does it matter?" She shrugged. "It was someone who was interested in Lilly, not me, anyway. It was… educational."

"I'll bet," Logan grumbled. He started up the car again and started driving. The town passed them by in silence, then Logan pulled up to the parking lot at Dog Beach, killed the engine, and just leaned back in his seat.

"What are you thinking about?" Veronica asked, curious at the pensive look on his face.

"Missed opportunities."

She reached out, put her hand on his arm. "If this is about Troy, don't worry so much. We'll give him enough rope to hang himself. And we can hang out again! You can tell your cronies Aaron has me babysitting you or something. Meanwhile, my dad is convincing him that this investigation thing is a phase for me, another symptom of being daddy's little princess."

He snorted. "Warrior princess, maybe."

"While I would like that, I don't carry a sword or chakram."

He laughed. "You're such a nerd, Xena."

"That you got the reference is overwhelming evidence you are equally nerdy." He just laughed again and shook his head. She shifted so she was half-leaning against the passenger side door, tilted her head as she looked at him. "All right, so if it's not Troy, then what's bugging you?"

He looked at her for a long moment. There was something in his gaze that brought heat to Veronica's cheeks. "Veronica—"

He was interrupted by the ringing of Veronica's phone. The opening beats of Beyonce's "Crazy in Love" blared into the silence of the car. He scrubbed his face with one hand as she answered the call, setting the phone on speaker.

"Veronica Mars!"

"Lilly Kane. You're on speaker."

"Oooh. Who's listening?"

"Hey there, ex-girlfriend. Let me commend you on your timing." Logan's voice was droll. Veronica raised an eyebrow at him, but he just shook his head.

"Ohmigod! Are you guys out on a date?"

"If on—"

"We just went for a drive after dinner, Lil. My dad's still at the Echolls place."

"I'll just call you later then!"

Veronica frowned. "Why? This way I can update you on what's going on and you can let Duncan know."

"Because… Because! What if I forget to tell him stuff?"

She huffed. "I have every confidence in your memory, Lilly."

Logan rolled his eyes. "Might as well sit for the debriefing, Lil."

"Fine, fine. Bare bones only, and make it snappy."

Veronica gave her an overview of what they'd discussed, with a few added notes for what she'd done at the sheriff's and fire departments earlier that afternoon.

"I can't believe you bombed the sheriff's department."

"It was only a little bomb!"

Logan smirked. "That's my little terrorist."

She smacked him in the arm. "Logan."

"Aww, you guys are so cute! So what does this mean? Now Logan gets to hang with you and Duncan and I are left out in the cold?"

"Pretty much. Though I think Duncan being Logan's best friend and editor of the Navigator means you're pretty much the only one who needs to put on a show of hostility."

"No fair! Why am I the only one on the Veronica Mars' hit list?"

"You aren't even, considering you haven't done anything yet."

"Oh, bother. Fine, fine, I'll be the evil stepsister. Expect a manic Monday."

Veronica smirked. "Thanks. In that case, expect a wacky Wednesday."

"Oh? How do you expect to top the exploding cock bong?"

"I don't have to top it. I just need to dish up the vengeance, Veronica-style, so people will know not to mess with me."

"It's a lesson best learned fast and early," Logan said.

"And never to be forgotten," Veronica added smugly. "Logan and I are going to stage a little drama tomorrow, though, and I'm pulling Eli into it, so don't try for a booty call in the afternoon."

"Do I get to watch?"

"No can do, sister-mine. It'll be Logan and his posse, me and my boy Wallace, and Eli and his boys."

Logan smirked. "Remove yourself and Wallace from the equation and it'll be something straight out of the West Side Story."

"Ohmigod, Veronica Mars, you better not be trying to fill your temporarily vacated best friend spot with that Wallace boy!"

"Oooh, is that jealousy I hear, Lilly Kane?" Logan looked positively delighted.

"Damn right it is! It's bad enough I have to duke it out with you and Duncan! Veronica's mine first, lover boy! Sistahs over mistahs, don't you know?"

Veronica rolled her eyes. "I am capable of maintaining a friendship with more than just one person at a time, just FYI. Also, as I mentioned, Logan and I ditched any plans for a fake relationship."

"Fine. But Veronica, I'm really pissed about having to act pissed at you."

"Just think of how much fun it'll be when we make things up." Veronica smiled. "Look, help me build my rep quicker, and we can go back to being besties that much sooner."

A huff on the other end of the line showed Lilly's frustration. "Okay, okay. I'll do my part to accomplish Operation Bare That Badass."

"Good."

"Now, if you don't have anything else to update me on, I'm gonna let you guys go so you can enjoy your romantic evening at the beach."

Veronica frowned. "It's not—"

But Lilly had already rung off.

She looked at Logan, who shrugged, a small smile playing at his mouth. "I'm sure _somebody_ is capable of reining in the irrepressible Lilly Kane, but it certainly isn't _me_." He started chuckling. "I like our new mission title, though. Operation Bare that Badass."

Veronica started giggling. "God love Lilly Kane."

Logan glanced out at the darkened beach. "Do you wanna go for a walk or something?"

But her phone beeped in that next moment. "Ugh, sorry, Lo. Looks like my dad's heading home, and Lynn and Aaron will probably expect you back soon afterward."

His shoulders slumped. She leaned forward, put a hand on his bicep. Told herself she absolutely did not notice just how much of said bicep there was.

"We'll talk soon, okay? Hey, you're gonna be sick of me soon enough, I'm your ride for the next couple of weeks!"

He grinned. "I'm actually kind of looking forward to that, even though I'm definitely going to miss my baby. Whom you insist on making fun of."

She rolled her eyes. "I wouldn't make fun of it quite so much if it weren't just so… what's the word? Yellow."

"Shows what you know. My baby's a beauty in a sea of blandness."

Veronica grinned. "You keep telling yourself that. Now, homeward, ho!"

He gunned the engine, pulled his car out of the parking lot. "You're such a dork."

She scrunched up her nose at him in what she hoped was an annoyingly cutesy look. "You love me anyway."

"Yeah, well. There's no accounting for taste."

"I am an excellent vintage, I'll have you know."

"I'm under the legal drinking age. And also you think Vanessa Carlton and Avril Lavigne are the height of music artistry."

She laughed and swatted his arm, switched on the radio, and serenaded him with bubblegum pop songs all the way home.

* * *

END NOTE: A thousand thanks to the awesomest of beta readers in the Veronica Mars fandom, Irma66, for having a look at this chapter. It's back to our regular posting schedule in January, so expect the next update on 10 January 2019! Happy New Year, all!


	13. Check the Grin

**Chapter 13: Check the Grin**

* * *

SUMMARY: Tire iron fail. Wallace smells the LoVe in the air. Duncan wins at nicknames.

* * *

AUTHOR'S NOTE: There is bonus content at the end of this. Warning: Bad angsty-teen poetry is involved. I am so, so sorry. LOL.

* * *

Despite it being a Saturday, Veronica had too many plans to enact to allow herself to sleep in. She woke up three minutes before her alarm went off at 6:30, did some mental calculations. Logan would probably be surfing with his buddies until mid-morning, and she didn't know Wallace well enough to say whether he was a morning person or not. She knew Eli Navarro certainly wasn't.

So she sent texts to all three boys for a late-morning rendezvous, with Wallace's being hour before Logan's and Eli's. Then she went through her morning ablutions, dressed in workout gear, and headed downstairs.

"Honey? Where are you headed today?" Keith called from where he was standing at the kitchen counter in his pajamas and house slippers. He was spreading cream cheese on what appeared to be a blueberry bagel.

"Hi Dad!" she said, tiptoeing to peck him on the cheek. "You're up early."

"You're one to talk. You're actually dressed to go out."

"I've got a session with Yosef at the martial arts center in about twenty."

"Won't you eat something first?"

She plucked the bagel out of his hands. "I'll take this, thank you."

"That's not healthy diet for a growing girl."

She smirked, grabbed an apple, put it in the pocket of her hoodie. "I'll eat something afterward. You know I don't like eating too a heavy breakfast before a session. And also there's that waffle place near Dog Beach I'm meeting a new friend at."

"New friend?"

"Yep, new kid at school."

"Name?"

She rolled her eyes. "Wallace Fennel. He and his family are new in town. Don't poke around too much. I don't wanna scare this one away."

"All right, honey. You have a good day."

"You too, Dad. Going into work despite the weekend?"

"What is this weekend of which you speak?"

She snorted, adjusted her gym bag over her shoulder, stuck the bagel in her mouth, and grabbed her keys, waving as she headed out the door.

A little over three grueling hours later, she parked her car at Dog Beach and made a beeline for the waffle joint, where Wallace was waiting. She sat down and ordered a savory waffle with bacon and eggs alongside a sweet one with a heavy helping of bananas, whipped cream, and Nutella.

"Damn, girl, what army are you feeding?"

"Don't you know? I'm a one-woman army." She laughed. "Also I spent three hours in training this morning, so you can be sure I deserve this."

"Training for what?"

"The zombie apocalypse or the Neptune revolution, whichever happens first."

"Who's to say the Neptune revolution isn't gonna be a zombie apocalypse?"

She grinned. "I like the way you think." She leaned forward, pulled a package out of her messenger bag. "By the way, got a present for you."

He opened the envelope, pulled out a VCR tape, and sighed in relief. "I owe you big time."

"I had my own reasons for doing it. Trust me."

"Oh, no you don't. You really think I'm gonna let you get away with that?" Veronica raised an eyebrow at him, but he just smirked. "See, now, that might play with the masses, but underneath that angry young woman shell, there's a _slightly_ less angry young woman who's just _dying_ to bake me something."

She smirked. "Oh?"

"You're a marshmallow, Veronica Mars! A Twinkie."

"I would love for you to tell my dad that. Or the sheriff!"

"I think I'm gonna stay away from the sheriff for the foreseeable future."

She grinned. "Good idea. So you've got your leverage. Hang onto it, even if the PCHers ask you for it. And they will. But you never know when it'll come in handy, and you'll get more respect if you don't bend over backward for them."

"Why am I not surprised that you speak gangster?"

"Cause you've got a good head on your shoulders."

Their food arrived, and she looked down at the table blissfully, taking a moment to admire the mess of carbs and calories spread before her. Then she dug in.

Wallace spread peanut butter over his waffle and shook his head as she moaned over the bacon-and-egg combo on her savory waffle. Then he watched in awe as she systematically started putting away two platefuls of food.

Thirty minutes later, their table sported three empty plates and Veronica was slurping down the last of a strawberry milkshake.

"I wouldn't have believed a little girl like you could put away so much food in one go, if I hadn't seen it with my very own eyes."

Veronica narrowed her eyes at him. "Who you calling 'little'? It's not like you're trying out for the NBA yourself, mister."

"Hey, I'll have you know that height isn't the be-all and end-all when it comes to being a baller."

"I'll take your word for it. Now what's this about teaching me to fly a plane?"

He grinned. "Well, I thought you might wanna see what my remote controllers are for, when you're not using them to blow up sheriff's departments."

She stuck her tongue out at him. "Fine. Teach me, O Wise Engineer of Whiny Flying Machines."

He rolled his eyes, but they paid their bill and headed out onto the beach, where he carefully pulled the parts of a model airplane out of his backpack—two wings, a body, and a tail section. She watched as he lovingly assembled the set before pulling out a remote controller.

He demonstrated how to get the plane in the air as well as how to control which direction it flew in. She caught on quick, though he didn't stop hovering at her shoulder to make sure she wasn't going to wreck his baby.

"Okay, how do I make it loop the loop?"

She frowned and quickly glanced over when he didn't answer. He was staring in the direction of the parking lot.

"Uh, Veronica?"

"Yeah?"

"Your car."

She glanced over, saw Logan sprawled on the hood of her SUV like an overdressed swimsuit model. Some of the 09er boys were lounging around as well. She handed the controller back to Wallace and proceeded to stomp over. She bit back a smile of satisfaction when Wallace caught up with her just as her feet touched asphalt.

She stopped a few feet from her car and crossed her arms.

"Hey, Veronica Mars," Logan said with a smile, his voice a parody of Lilly's. Then he jumped off the hood of her car and stalked over, a tire iron in hand. She raised an eyebrow at it. "You may have been gunning for someone else, but do you know what your little prank on Madison cost me?"

"Alleged prank on Madison," Veronica corrected. "And I'm pretty sure you won't be getting your drugs back."

"They're not my drugs. You know this."

"Do I?"

"You should! We've been friends long enough."

"Oh, we're friends, are we? Last I heard, friends don't call friends 'your bitchiness' or complain about them being sticks in the mud or goody-two-shoes."

"Yeah, well, last I heard, friends don't let friends get framed for having drugs in their lockers."

"Dude, it's not like she put it there," Wallace said.

"Best stay out of this, Wallace. Because whatever else this stunt cost him, he obviously paid with his sense of humor."

"Oh, haha. Very funny. Let's see how funny this is." He swung the tire iron at her headlight.

When it bounced off harmlessly, she raised an eyebrow. "You're right, that's pretty funny." She sent him a sharklike smile. "You know what's also funny, doofus? You seem to have forgotten my daddy's in security so my car's armored up. Good thing, since I know _you_ lost your car for two weeks."

"Oh, and what little birdie told you that?"

"Oh, I might've heard a certain Hollywood movie star asking my dad if I could give his son a ride to and from school for the next couple of weeks. He's hoping I'll be a good influence." She smiled. "Want to rethink that whole being-friends thing? It's in your best interest to stay on my good side."

Logan stared at her and then swung the tire iron at her fender. Ineffectively, of course. "Well, boys," he said to the 09ers who'd come with him. "Guess what I won't be having for a while?" He turned and stepped up right into Veronica's space. "Fun, fun, fun."

She just raised her eyebrows and met his eyes as he stared down at her. After a moment, she registered the sound of motorcycles pulling up, and waggled her eyebrows at him, but he seemed to have frozen in place.

"Uhhh," said one of the 09er boys in an excellent impression of neanderthalism. "Logan?"

Over a dozen motorbikes pulled into the parking lot and seemed to swarm Veronica's and the 09ers' cars.

"What do we have here?" Eli Navarro asked, once he'd climbed off his bike and taken off his helmet. He stalked forward, eyeing the tire iron in Logan's hands. "Vandalism? Intimidation? No, no, no. The only time that gets to happen in this town, it goes through me first."

Veronica fought the urge to roll her eyes at his posturing.

Logan stepped away from her and met the biker head on. "Listen, man, I don't have a problem with you."

Eli smiled, his mouth a slash across his face and full of teeth. "That's where you're wrong."

The two boys did their best to stare each other down, and though Veronica knew it was more of an act on Logan's part, she also knew Eli was devoted to Lilly and probably none too happy to be face-to-face with the Kane heiress's ex-boyfriend.

She watched Felix hoist himself up the side of the SUV she knew belonged to Enbom's mom. He leaned in, and she tilted her head a little to watch what he was doing. He popped up again, a CD in one hand.

"Hey, yo. Is this O-Town any good? I mean my little sister likes it but you know, she likes ponies and juice boxes too."

As if on cue, all the bikers except for Eli started laughing and bumping fists. Veronica watched Logan's shoulders tense.

Wallace leaned closer. "I suddenly feel like I'm in a scene from _The Outsiders_ ," he said softly.

"Be cool, Sodapop," Veronica replied, not taking her eyes off the tableau in front of her.

Eli had grabbed the tire iron out of Logan's hands, stalked over to the SUV just as Felix jumped off the side runner. Veronica realized someone must have gotten word to him about what had gone on right before he'd arrived.

John Enbom showed he wasn't entirely made of sissy, holding a hand out to stop him and saying, "Hey, that's not his car. It's my mom's car."

Eli only smirked. "She can bill me." He smiled, and Enbom backed off. Eli then proceeded to take out the SUV's headlights and dent its hood. Then he smiled cheerfully and held out the tire iron for Enbom to take. "That's it. Head for the hills. I'm not gonna say it twice."

There was a mad scramble for Enbom's car, and the 09er guys were quick to jump in.

"Except for you," Eli said, stalking toward Logan. "You say you're sorry."

Logan smirked. "Rub a lamp."

What was he doing? Veronica stepped forward just as Eli's fist made contact with Logan's gut, and the taller boy doubled over. He used his bent-over position to glance at Veronica. Held out a hand indicating she should back off.

Veronica scowled, but let Logan take the lead on this. He straightened, sent the head biker a slightly crazed smile, and said, "Kiss my ass."

Eli punched him in the face for that, sending Logan to his hands and knees. "Now—"

But Veronica had had enough. She wasn't sure what Logan's point was, but she wasn't going to stand by as he let himself get pummeled. "Let him go."

"Are you sure?" Eli asked her, his gaze on Logan. Veronica tried not to wince when she saw her friend's nose was bleeding. "I could do this for a while."

"I don't want an apology," she said coolly. She raised an eyebrow at Logan, doing her best to keep her concern out of her face. "But I do have a proposition for him."

"And what's that?" Logan sneered.

"You say the drugs weren't yours?"

"Like you don't know that."

"Fine. Then hire me to prove it."

He raised an eyebrow. "This is that crazy junior PI business you were talking about? You don't even need the cash."

She smiled. "No, but I do like the practice."

He snorted. "Didn't you hear? The evidence went poof! Lamb dropped the charges. It'd be my daddy you'd have to convince."

"He'd want to put on a big show of making it up to you if you were proved innocent."

"Fine. What will it cost me?"

She grinned. "A favor."

"What is it?"

"I'll let you know at a future date."

Eli raised his eyebrows at her. "You're gonna trust in his honor to pay his debts?"

Veronica smiled. "Yes. Also, Aaron Echolls thinks I'm a sweet, innocent princess who can do no wrong."

Eli snorted. "Ain't that the truth, from what my _abuela_ says," he muttered, too low for the other boys to hear. Veronica smirked. To Logan, he said, "Well, if you've completed your business, I've got some business to conduct myself, then I've got a hot little chica waiting on me."

Logan snorted. "If that hot little chica is Lilly Kane, you'll be lucky if she lets you keep your balls."

"She'd probably have left you yours if you'd known what to do with them."

"Hey," Veronica said, genuine anger spiking her voice. "You guys don't get to talk about Lilly or any woman like that."

"What do you care, chica?" Felix called. "Everybody knows she left you high and dry."

"Did she? Or did I call them on their bullshit and tell them to give me a call when they got their heads out of their asses?" The bikers made comical "ooooh" sounds. Veronica rolled her eyes at them. "Now, boys, how about some of you disperse before the nice deputy currently enjoying his fish and chips down the way goes back on duty and reports this little gathering to his friends?"

Logan stared at her for a long minute. She waved a hand in his direction. "Shoo, fly. Don't bother me now."

He snorted but climbed into Enbom's mom's SUV—she made a note to ask Logan how much flak Enbom would catch for the dents—and the 09ers peeled away.

Eli watched the SUV drive off before turning his attention back to Veronica. "So that, uh, surveillance tape just…poof?"

"That's fortunate."

"It doesn't look like he did any damage to your car," he said, inspecting the front end of Veronica's SUV. "Or to your body." His gaze returned to hers then dropped leisurely down.

"Okay, now you apologize."

"I'm sorry, was that too dirty? Cause—"

"Not to me, dork." Veronice inclined her head in Wallace's direction. "To him."

"Right." The biker snorted. "No."

"Fine. He has the only copy of the Sac-N-Pac video. Wallace, let's go decide what to do with it."

Wallace took her cue and nodded, and they turned to go. Veronica didn't even have to count down from three in her head for Eli to capitulate.

"Okay. Wait, wait, wait, look, look. I'm sorry, man. Umm, for, you know, taping you to the the flagpole. I'm sorry."

Wallace shrugged. "All right."

"Can I have the tape back now?"

Veronica smirked as Wallace pretended to give Eli's question due consideration. "Nope."

She laughed and made her way to the car, indicating the Wallace should get into the passenger seat. "Guess that told you, Weevs!"

"Yeah, yeah, yeah. Hyuk it up. We square now?"

She rolled down the window and raised an eyebrow as she started the engine. "What do you think?"

Wallace shook his head and grinned as they pulled out among the bikers' muttering about "the chica's _cojones_."

"So, where to?" she asked perkily after they'd cleared the parking lot.

"Uh, I don't know about you, but I've got a shift to pull at the Sac-N-Pac."

"Cool. I can drop you off. I'm probably gonna pop by my dad's office, and it's on the way."

"That'd be great, thanks."

They rode in silence for a few minutes. Veronica spent most of those minutes wondering why Logan had volunteered to get his face beat in by Eli.

"So, what's up with you and Echolls?"

"I'm sorry, what?"

"Um. Was I not supposed to notice that intense eye-sex you guys were having before the bikers showed up? Also he made some kind of hand signal when Weevil was delivering his beat down, and you backed off."

Veronica raised her eyebrows. It seemed Wallace Fennel was full of surprises. And more observant than she'd given him credit for. "I don't know what was up with that," she said. "When we were friends, he used to make that gesture to make me back off of getting between him and Lilly whenever they were having one of their very public fights. I guess I just forgot we were on the outs for a sec."

"You forgot you were on the outs," Wallace said, his voice dubious. "With a guy who took a tire iron to your car."

She shrugged. "Not like he could hurt it." She patted her dashboard with some affection. "My ride's a bit of a beast."

"Not unlike its owner, I'm starting to understand."

She batted her eyelashes at him for a sec before turning back to the road. "Why, Wallace, I have no idea what you could be talking about!"

"Right. And I bet you have no idea what I'm referring to when I tell you Logan Echolls wants in your pants. And you obviously want in his."

She snorted. "Don't be ridiculous."

"Supafly, I am many things, but ridiculous ain't one of them. You're crushing over the celebutante."

"Am not!" She sighed. "Okay, maybe when he first moved here I might have had the teensiest, eensiest crush on him. But then Neptune life happened, we got to be friends, he started dating my best friend, and now we're, I don't know, frenemies or something."

"Neptune life happened? What's that supposed to mean?"

She smirked. "Stick around long enough, and I'm sorry to say that you'll find out."

"You're kind of disturbing, you know that?"

"I'm from Neptune. What do you think?"

* * *

After dropping Wallace off, Veronica picked up a couple of sandwiches then headed over to the Neptune office of MIS—a small satellite of the larger LA headquarters. She hummed as she dropped by her dad's office, a study in buttery leather and lush mahogany that nevertheless looked cozy and lived in, very unlike his offices in the larger branches, which were "dressed to impress," with imposing lines and materials.

Keith was on the phone, so she placed a sandwich and soda within his line of sight, accepted the folder he handed her silently, sent him a huge grin, then headed for the cubicle she'd claimed as her own. There, she settled in, switching on the computer on her desk but also setting up her personal laptop beside it.

As the computers booted up, she checked the folder her dad had given her. He'd assigned her a few basic background checks, which she could do in under an hour. With her eyes closed. She eyed the post-it note he'd written.

 _Honey,_ _I don't have to warn you of the evils of using company resources for your pet projects._

She shook her head. In other words, _don't get caught_. Because plausible deniability was how the Mars family rolled.

She logged into her laptop and grinned when she saw a message from Duncan inviting her to chat, and promptly joined the group.

 **PluckyHeroine:** Dare I ask about these new nicknames?

 **EvilQueen:** Hey, you're the one who said the Donut could pick this time. He should've made mine SexyQueen.

 **ObligatoryAnimalSidekick:** At least your name isn't demeaning.

 **PrinceCharming:** I don't know what you're talking about, Logan.

 **ObligatoryAnimalSidekick:** You know exactly what I'm talking about, Duncan. Why do YOU get to be PrinceCharming?

 **PrinceCharming:** Well, you guys keep comparing Meg to a Disney princess, so Prince Charming is who I want to be.

 **PluckyHeroine:** I'm sure Princess Meg will happily fall into your arms. And if she doesn't, this plucky heroine is happy to give her a push.

 **PrinceCharming:** Thank you, Fearless Leader (I was debating between that and Plucky Heroine).

 **ObligatoryAnimalSidekick:** PluckyHeroine is good. FearlessLeader is a known fact. What I don't understand is why you've decided I'm like Mushu in Mulan or something.

 **EvilQueen:** LOL, Logan. I think he was thinking more like Donkey in Shrek, TBH.

 **ObligatoryAnimalSidekick:** The jackass?

 **PrinceCharming:** You said it, not me.

 **PluckyHeroine:** Guys, guys, let's play nice. We can save the sniping for Neptune High. Also, Logan is not a jackass by nature, but he's pretty good at faking it.

 **EvilQueen:** Urgh, yeah. Eli was all "I can't believe you ever got with that asshole" earlier.

 **ObligatoryAnimalSidekick:** Earlier, huh?

 **EvilQueen:** Oh, shut it, Logan. I have moved on from our fake relationship. I suggest you do too.

 **ObligatoryAnimalSidekick:** While not all of us have your refractory period, I *am* trying.

 **EvilQueen:** Ooh, big words, big boy.

 **ObligatoryAnimalSidekick:** Well, "big" is right.

 **PrinceCharming:** I did not need to be here for this.

 **PluckyHeroine:** No penis jokes in chat, please. Also, updates! Logan and I are carpooling effective Monday. He's not supposed to be happy about it, as it's on orders from Keith and Aaron, but I also got him to publicly "hire" me to clear his name.

 **EvilQueen:** He's not supposed to be happy about it, but I can bet you he is.

 **PrinceCharming:** So he'll be driving you to school, Veronica?

 **PluckyHeroine:** Nope! I'm driving him. Aaron took his car away for two weeks.

 **EvilQueen:** I take it back.

 **PluckyHeroine:** Take what back?

 **EvilQueen:** He's not happy about it. Now he's torn between two lovers.

 **ObligatoryAnimalSidekick:** ^Valid.

 **PluckyHeroine:** You can't see it, but I'm rolling my eyebrows.

 **EvilQueen:** You can't see it, but I am so not surprised.

 **ObligatoryAnimalSidekick:** You can't see it, but I really *am* both happy and sad about this development.

 **EvilQueen:** You can't see it, but I am still not surprised.

 **PrinceCharming:** So wait. What does this all mean for the narrative? Also, Lilly, I can hear you singing "Can You Feel the Love Tonight" from my room. Quit it!

 **EvilQueen:** It's a good thing I know I sing beautifully, or you might have damaged my ego, Donut.

 **ObligatoryAnimalSidekick:** Lilly, even if he tried, DK couldn't damage your ego with napalm and a gatling gun.

 **PluckyHeroine:** Play nice, guys. You're only fake exes, after all.

 **ObligatoryAnimalSidekick:** She's jealous.

 **PluckyHeroine:** Of Duncan?

 **ObligatoryAnimalSidekick:** Of me. Because I am assured quality Veronica Mars time for the next two weeks.

 **EvilQueen:** OMG I am! I so am! Ugh! Ronica, can we make up yet? I miss my best friend, and Madison and Shelly keep angling for your spot!

 **PluckyHeroine:** As I've already told you, we can't make up til you make a concentrated effort to show me how much my life sucks without you, at which point, I will hit back at you with the same, three times worse.

 **EvilQueen:** Ugh, I already know my life sucks without you, Veronica Mars.

 **PluckyHeroine:** Yes, but you must tell the story of how you've learned this lesson. Publicly.

 **EvilQueen:** Fine. Don't think I won't stuff your locker with condoms on Monday.

 **PluckyHeroine:** Good. My revenge for you involves cultural traditions of the Indian peninsula.

 **EvilQueen:** What?

 **ObligatoryAnimalSidekick:** What?

 **PrinceCharming:** Veronica, does this have anything to do with that social studies presentation you did in like seventh grade?

 **PluckyHeroine:** ;)

 **PrinceCharming:** Please don't mess with the car. I have to share it, you know.

 **PluckyHeroine:** ^_^

 **PrinceCharming:** T_T

 **PluckyHeroine:** LOL. Fine, Duncan. I have something else a little more public in mind, anyhow.

 **ObligatoryAnimalSidekick:** Care to share with the rest of the class?

 **PluckyHeroine:** Nope.

 **EvilQueen:** Is it evil? Like evil queen evil?

 **PluckyHeroine:** Nah. You know I don't work like that. More Road Runner than Maleficent.

 **EvilQueen:** Wait. Am I gonna be the Road Runner or Wile E. Coyote?

 **ObligatoryAnimalSidekick:** Don't you know by now that when up against Veronica Mars, we are always Coyote?

 **PrinceCharming:** As Logan said earlier… ^Valid.

 **PluckyHeroine:** LOL. I have trained him well.

 **EvilQueen:** He is your devoted slave.

 **ObligatoryAnimalSidekick:** ^Valid.

 **PluckyHeroine:** You say that like you aren't all my devoted slaves.

 **PrinceCharming:** ^Valid.

 **ObligatoryAnimalSidekick:** So, not to question the chauffeur service you're offering, but I'm assuming it's part of a bigger plan you've hatched up?

 **PluckyHeroine:** Give the boy a gold star.

 **EvilQueen:** Betcha he'd rather have a red heart.

 **PluckyHeroine:** So here's how we're gonna play it. Duncan, Logan's gonna need your help on this one. So first off, you're gonna need to do a little public bromancing. Be all "I don't hold it against you that and my sister broke up."

 **PrinceCharming:** Because I don't.

 **EvilQueen:** I also don't hold it against you that we broke up.

 **ObligatoryAnimalSidekick:** Seeing as we all know it was a fake relationship, I think we are well assured of this.

 **PluckyHeroine:** People can't know that though.

 **EvilQueen:** I know :(

 **PluckyHeroine:** Okay, moving on. Once you've reestablished your best friendship, Logan, you're going to let it be known that you want to celebrate your freedom, maybe with a trip to TJ or… I don't know. Come up with a few other options. Do so in Luke Haldeman's hearing. Plus points if you can do it when Troy is around too. Logan, you're in charge of letting Luke talk you into going to TJ. Duncan, you're going to let Troy talk you into letting him come with you guys. Bet you if you complain that Lilly won't let you take the car for a whole weekend, he'll volunteer to drive.

 **ObligatoryAnimalSidekick:** Okay. But we won't actually have to go to TJ, will we?

 **PluckyHeroine:** Well, you might?

 **ObligatoryAnimalSidekick:** Really?

 **PrinceCharming:** But I hate TJ. And so does Logan.

 **PluckyHeroine:** Nobody knows that but us, though.

 **ObligatoryAnimalSidekick:** Why do we have to go, though?

 **PluckyHeroine:** Because Luke needs to buy some drugs. And Troy's gonna want to steal them off him. And probably find some way to get one of you boys blamed for it. Or at least set you up as a plausible alternative suspect.

 **ObligatoryAnimalSidekick:** That's kind of his MO, huh?

 **PluckyHeroine:** Seems to be. Meanwhile, I'm going to make nice.

 **ObligatoryAnimalSidekick:** NO

 **PrinceCharming:** What? No!

 **EvilQueen:** Ooh, now we're talking.

 **ObligatoryAnimalSidekick:** Veronica, I swear. You are NOT going near him.

 **PluckyHeroine:** I won't have to. He keeps coming over and talking to me.

 **PrinceCharming:** I'm with Logan on this one. I think you should stay away from him.

 **PluckyHeroine:** Do you seriously think I don't know how to handle Troy freaking Vandegraff?

 **EvilQueen:** Yeah, guys, she could kick his ass six ways to Sunday and he wouldn't even know what hit him.

 **ObligatoryAnimalSidekick:** Far be it for me to question our fearless leader…

 **PluckyHeroine:** Don't then.

 **ObligatoryAnimalSidekick:** But I feel obligated to mention that THE GUY HAS GHB.

 **PrinceCharming:** ^Valid.

 **PluckyHeroine:** Fine. That's a point. However, you're forgetting one thing.

 **ObligatoryAnimalSidekick:** And what's that?

 **PluckyHeroine:** You're my safety net.

 **EvilQueen:** Aww, that's so sweet.

 **PluckyHeroine:** Not now, Lilly. I'm being serious here. We're doing this whole carpool thing for two reasons: one, to give you a viable excuse for not having a car available for your trip to TJ, and two, to give us a reason to check in with each other.

 **ObligatoryAnimalSidekick:** On one condition.

 **PluckyHeroine:** What's that?

 **ObligatoryAnimalSidekick:** You carry a panic button.

 **EvilQueen:** That… actually makes sense.

 **PrinceCharming:** Yeah, I vote for this also.

 **PluckyHeroine:** What? Are my minions revolting?

 **ObligatoryAnimalSidekick:** Only insofar as we want to keep you safe.

 **PluckyHeroine:** Fine.

 **ObligatoryAnimalSidekick:** Okay then.

 **PluckyHeroine:** Okay. So now one last thing. Logan, you owe me homework.

 **ObligatoryAnimalSidekick:** Say what now?

 **PluckyHeroine:** Lit Mag? Casey Gant? I need a portfolio.

 **ObligatoryAnimalSidekick:** Oh. Right. You still need me to write some poetry for you?

 **PluckyHeroine:** Yes, but make it bad.

 **ObligatoryAnimalSidekick:** Bad how?

 **EvilQueen:** Yeah, Ronica. Better tell Logan not to pull out some Shakespeare stuff or anything. Or he'll write you one of those schmoopy poems. Donut, quick! An example!

 **PrinceCharming:** "How do I love thee? Let me count the ways."

 **ObligatoryAnimalSidekick:** That's Elizabeth Barrett Browning, you illiterate pair of trolls.

 **EvilQueen:** Point made.

 **PluckyHeroine:** Point taken. Logan, let me explain to you the attributes and style of crap teen poetry: Must be written in a funky color of ink. Must include dominant themes of alienation, sexual ambivalence, self-loathing, death, etc. I'll take care of the ink. Give me words.

 **PrinceCharming:** Also, as previously agreed, please title one poem "I Cut Because I Can."

 **ObligatoryAnimalSidekick:** Fine. I'll email you some stuff by Monday morning.

 **PluckyHeroine:** Excellent.

 **EvilQueen:** And, just saying, if you want to write her some schmoopy poetry while you're at it, you can always just share it here.

 **PluckyHeroine:** Why would he write schmoopy poetry?

 **ObligatoryAnimalSidekick:** And that's exactly why it's not going to happen.

 **EvilQueen:** Ugh. I swear to god, guys.

 **PluckyHeroine:** I'm logging out now.

* * *

 **Warning: Optional reading! Bonus scene below this break!**

AUTHOR'S NOTE: What follows is something you can totally skip without losing any of the plot of (although it may add insight/feels for) future chapters. This entire fic is pretty much limited to Veronica's point of view, so while I sometimes will plot out another character's POV to clarify things in my own mind, I will often not write it or include it in the fic. As per my amazing beta reader Irma66's suggestion, I'm gonna start putting these in from time to time—call them After-Credits Scenes. In the case of the one below, I thought some of the LoVe-thirsty folks reading this would appreciate a scene from Logan's POV.

* * *

 **[After Credits Scene—Logan's POV]**

" **Bad Poetry"**

Later that night, Logan was holed up in his room. He'd knocked back a couple of beers with the guys at Dick's place before heading home, just a half-hour past curfew. He winced. Veronica would have his hide if she found out he was out late tonight. Fortunately, his dad was in the pool house. From the sounds—faked gasps and moans, if he was any judge—Logan had the perfect distraction to help him sneak into the house. He was tiptoeing through the living room when he noticed his mother sitting in the dark, a half-full tumbler of something that definitely wasn't iced tea in hand.

"You're lucky your father is busy tonight," she said. Slurred, actually.

He winced. "I know. I got… sidetracked."

"Veronica?"

"Ah, no. Dick and the guys."

"You should hang out with Veronica more, baby."

 _If only she'd let me._ He sat down in a chair opposite his mother, watching her out of concern. She only called him baby when she was sloshed—or particularly maudlin. The light was dim, but he could make out the slackness of her face, the slumberous eyes. "She's got her own stuff going on, Mom."

"Stuff you could help her with?"

He thought back to his "homework" and huffed out a laugh. "Maybe."

"You should do that, then. She's a good girl. Saved your life last night."

He laughed humorlessly. "Yeah, death by crab cakes would have been an ignominious death for Aaron Echolls' kid."

"You forgot the important part, baby."

"What's that?"

"You're Lynn Lester's kid too."

He smiled. "I never forget that part, Mom. Even if we're not as loud about it as the other."

She chuckled. "You're a good boy, you know that? Better than either of us deserve."

"I try my best, Mom."

"I've noticed." She smirked. "So has Veronica. That girl would be perfect for you, you know. Bet she and her dad could give Aaron a run for his money."

 _Oh, you have no idea_. But he wasn't about to share, despite the unusually talkative mood she was in. Too much was at stake for him to go blabbing about the Fab Four and their plans. Instead, he remembered something Veronica had said before. "She worries about you, you know."

Lynn frowned. "Why?"Her eyes flicked toward the windows, in the direction of the pool house. "She doesn't know about—"

"She just thinks Dad leaves you alone too much," Logan interrupted before she could ask a question he'd be forced to answer with a lie. "Was thinking you might wanna hang out with some of the other Neptune parents."

She snorted. "Right. Like who? Celeste Kane? She's got a stick so far up her ass it's a wonder her head isn't pointy."

Logan smirked. "Well, that's one way to put it."

"And no way am I befriending Lianne Mars. The woman's a cheater and a lush."

Logan's mouth dropped open. "What did you say?"

Lynn raised her glass and shook it with patently false cheer to make her point. "She hides it well, but it takes one to know one. Are you telling me Veronica doesn't know?"

 _Does she?_ Logan wanted to call her and ask. But he stopped instead. He needed more information. "I don't know. What do you know about it?"

"I know she knocks back vodka at the bar of the Neptune Grand before and after her little trysts with Jake Kane." She sighed. "I know there are nights Keith does the rounds of the bars when she doesn't come home."

"So Mr. Mars knows?"

"Of course. He's one of the most observant men on the planet. I know he hides it from Veronica. I'll bet they both do. I don't know if he succeeds."

Logan ran both hands through his hair, then just clutched his head, staring at the floor. He cursed.

"You're not going to tell her." There was a hardness in Lynn's voice, one he didn't often hear. "Not until she tells you about it."

"Why not?" Holy shit. He wasn't up to keeping secrets from Veronica.

"Because it's not your place. And it might wreck your chances with her."

"I—" He stopped. Didn't know what to say.

"I know you love her, baby." She smiled. "And I'm pretty sure she feels the same."

 _I wish I were as certain_. "What makes you say that?"

Lynn laughed. For once, it was a true laugh, a ringing peal of delight. It made his heart hurt to know how rarely he heard it. "I'm not going to deprive you of the experience of finding out." She reached over, put her hand over his. She didn't hold it—they weren't that kind of family, but she just rested her palm over the back of his hand long enough to feel the heat of her flushed skin against his own. Then she pulled back. "If Veronica Mars is your best bet at being happy, baby, don't waste any chances with her. And don't settle for someone else just because it seems like she's not ready to be with you yet."

"I won't, Mom." He smiled. "Doesn't mean I can't try and hurry her along, though."

It was the right thing to say. She let that laugh ring out again, and he found himself grinning back at her. "Good point, baby," she said—she never called him _son._ That was Aaron's word. "Let me know if there's anything I can do to help."

Something inside him warmed at the thought. "You know, Mom, I might just take you up on that."

She grinned. "Please do." Just then, the lights in the pool house switched on. And just like that, the light in Lynn winked out. She downed the rest of her drink, and Logan's own mouth dried with hate. "Better go up to your room now, baby. Looks like Daddy's done. He won't like seeing you here in your outside clothes."

"Okay, Mom. I was gonna work on something Veronica asked for help with anyway." He got up, tugging at his sleeves as he frowned down at her.

She smiled. "You do that. And you ask her for me if she's free next Saturday."

"What's next Saturday?"

"Your dad'll be out of the country to do some scenes for that new movie of his, and I think I'd like to do a little shopping in LA. Could use the company. We could make a girls' day out of it. I like her edgy new look and would like to add to her wardrobe."

He grinned. "I like it too. I'll ask her when she picks me up on Monday." He leaned down, kissed her cheek. "Good night, Mom."

"Good night, baby."

Logan headed upstairs and pretended he didn't hear the clink as a decanter met the rim of her tumbler. Once upstairs, he freshened up, then sat at his desk. "Crap teen poetry, huh? Themes of alienation and self-loathing? Easy peasy." He switched on his laptop, booted up the word processor, and started to write.

 _ **I Cut Because I Can**_

 _I cut because I can't_  
 _Seem to find calm_  
 _When everybody else_  
 _Speaks louder than I do_

 _I cut because I know_  
 _The way people see me_  
 _Isn't who I am._  
 _And they can never know._

 _I cut because it's strange_  
 _I only bleed on the inside_  
 _So it makes more sense_  
 _To make the outside match._

 _I cut because I can._

 _ **So Home Is This (S*H*I*T)**_

 _They say home_  
 _Is where the heart is_  
 _But it's also where_  
 _People cut_  
 _Your heart_  
 _To pieces_  
 _With their hands_  
 _Not so much_  
 _Like confetti_  
 _As tissue paper._

 _Sometimes_  
 _What's left_  
 _Is used_  
 _To wipe away tears_  
 _Or blood._  
 _Sometimes_  
 _It wipes away_  
 _Less liquid things_  
 _That come_  
 _Out of your body._  
 _Either way_  
 _It only happens_  
 _Behind closed doors._

He wrote two "poems" in a span of about twenty minutes. Smirked at the pages, imagining the lines written out in Veronica's fat, loopy handwriting. In bright purple ink. He pulled up the composition form for a new email and typed _Crap teen poetry, as requested_ into the subject line. He set Veronica as the recipients, but CCed Lilly and Duncan. He added a note to the top of the email: _The first poem is as per Duncan's request. The second really *is* crap—and about it too._ Then he copied his "masterpieces" into the body and, before he could regret it too much, hit _send_.

* * *

AUTHOR'S NOTE: Happy new year! Thank you to Irma66 for beta reading, as always! Next update: 20 January 2019!


	14. You Don't Ask Why

**Chapter 14: You Don** **'t Ask Why**

* * *

SUMMARY: Veronica has an encounter that leaves a bad taste in her mouth. And Neptune's resident Disney princess may have a dark secret.

* * *

Sunday morning dawned bright and clear, and Veronica decided to chase off the last cobwebs of sleep with a little cardio. She set a decent, but not too challenging pace, so her usual 5K route took her just under 30 minutes instead of her usual sub-25 minutes. She arrived back home with a light sheen of sweat and a powerful thirst, picking the newspaper up from where the paperboy had stuck it between the rungs of their gate then heading straight to the kitchen to pour herself a glass of water and down it.

Glancing at the clock, she saw it was still pretty early, and unlikely her parents would be ready to sit down to breakfast for another hour at least. She grabbed a couple of bananas from the fruit basket and went to refill her glass with orange juice, but when she opened the fridge, she found they were out of OJ. She spied the neat row of her mom's favorite single-serve bottles of apple juice and decided to swipe one. Knowing her mom was a little bit covetous of her apple juice, Veronica took a bottle from the back of the row, vowing to replace it later when she went out to pick up OJ and snacks.

She settled into the breakfast nook with her pre-breakfast, phone, and the newspaper, plotting out how much junk food she could reasonably include in her shopping list. Deciding to just let her stomach make the decisions when she hit the grocery store, she absently started checking the headlines on the local news as she peeled her banana.

She was midway through an article on Hollywood actors who seemed to be "stuck in a rut" playing the same role over and over again, regardless of the names of their characters—she was amused to note Tom Cruise and Aaron Echolls seemed to be tied for the most repetitive—when she uncapped the bottle of apple juice and took a swig.

And promptly spat out the mouthful of liquid she'd about to swallow.

It was definitely not apple juice.

Furious, she took her bottle to the sink and upended it, watching what she'd identified as tequila pour out and down the drain. Then she went to the fridge and started pulling out bottles. She quickly discovered that in the row of six bottles, only the first two contained actual apple juice. The others contained a tequila with a near-perfect color match to the juice. These she dumped in the sink, feeling rage bubble up inside her even as the booze poured out of the bottles.

She was about to empty the very last bottle when her mother walked in.

"Veronica!" Lianne Mars barked out. "What do you think you're doing with my apple juice?"

"Your apple juice is in the fridge, _Mom_ ," Veronica bit out. "Someone must have mistakenly filled these bottles with tequila."

"What are you talking about?" Lianne was a bad liar. Her eyes flickered back and forth between the bottle and Veronica's face. She licked her lips and strode forward. "Give me that."

Veronica kept her grip on the bottle and evaded Lianne's swiping hands. "No."

"Veronica, you give me that right now."

"No. You're not supposed to be drinking. You should talk to Dad."

At this, Lianne stilled. "Veronica, sweetheart. Your dad doesn't have to know about this. I didn't drink any of that. It's old stock, from before I went to the clinic."

"Oh?" Veronica's rage chilled into something hard and hurtful in her chest. "When was that, Mom? On that so-called retreat you went on three months ago? Or how about the Swiss chalet you decided you needed to 'take a break from the world' in six months before that? Or how about last year, when you wanted to check out that spa in the desert?"

The older woman blanched. "I don't know what you're talking about."

"Really? You think I didn't know Dad checked you into rehab? That he's _been_ checking you in and out of rehab for the past few years?"

"Y-you know about that?"

"What do you think?"

"You don't understand, sweetheart—"

"Oh, please," Veronica said coldly, "explain it to me."

"It's hard, you know. With your dad away so often. I get lonely—"

"I'm sure Jake would be surprised to hear that."

 _Crack_. Veronica had trained for years to block physical attacks, but she'd never expected it of her mother. She took the hit, feeling like her body had suddenly been encased in ice.

Lianne's face had been red and contorted with fury, but in the silence that followed, she'd whitened and looked horrified, looking from her hand to Veronica's face and then back again. She dropped her hand, stepped forward. "Veronica, baby—"

"You don't get to call me that," Veronica said flatly. "Not anymore."

Lianne stared at her daughter mutely for a moment. Then she sighed. "Are you going to tell your father about this?"

"Are you?" Veronica stared right back. "I think if you want to have any hope of salvaging this situation, you'll tell him yourself."

"He'll never forgive me."

"No," Veronica said slowly. "But there are worse things that could happen."

"I can't tell your dad about this!" Lianne hissed.

"Tell me about what?"

Both women startled upon hearing the voice coming from the doorway behind them. Lianne jumped and stepped back, away from Veronica, who stiffened.

For a moment, Veronica thought of angling her body so her cheek, which still stung and had started to burn in a way that told her that there would be a visible redness to her cheek, was hidden from her father's view. But she stopped. Her mother had never hit her before, and she would never again let her guard down enough to let the woman get another smack in. But despite their policy of plausible deniability, she and her father never lied to each other about anything truly important. Kept secrets, yes, but lying was another thing entirely.

So she met Keith's gaze evenly. "Morning, Dad," she said.

Keith was standing in the entryway to the kitchen, a box from the local bakery in one hand and a shopping bag in the other. His eyes narrowed on her face, then dropped to the bottle that was still in her hand. He glanced at his wife before returning his gaze to his daughter.

Silently he made his way into the kitchen, laying the box and bag down on the counter. As the two women watched, he walked—stalked—between them, still silent, each step deliberate, as he opened a cupboard and pulled out a plate. He walked back to the counter, passing between them once again, flicking a brief glance toward his wife before turning his attention to the bakery box.

He opened the box, pulled out a couple of bagels. He laid the plate on a tray, then walked to the fridge, pulled out a small tub of cream cheese and added it to the tray. Then he reached over and pulled an apple from the fruit bowl. He opened the shopping bag and pulled out a bottle of orange juice, poured her a glass, and placed it on the tray before turning his attention to his daughter.

"Morning, Veronica," he said, bending down and placing a kiss on her unmarked cheek. He took the bottle in her hand, then handed her the tray. "Please take this to your room while your mother and I have a talk. I'll come up when we're done."

His tone was deceptively mild. Veronica heard the steel underlying the pleasantry and decided the wisest course of action would be to quit the field. "Okay, Dad," she said.

Quickly, efficiently, she retrieved her phone, placed it on the tray as well, then left the kitchen. Her bedroom door hadn't quite shut behind her before her mom started yelling.

* * *

Veronica had thought she'd had enough of listening to her mother's raised voice, her father's muffled replies, but it was the silence from downstairs that finally unnerved her. After applying a cold gel pack to her cheek—she kept a stock in the freezer section of the mini fridge in her room, in case she needed to see to Logan on short notice—she showered and changed into shorts and a baby tee and tried to do some advance work for school. She found her attention wandering, though, and soon gave up.

She eventually decided to put on her earphones and play some music, selecting one of Lilly's fastidiously cheerful playlists. She brought her mobile and laptop to bed with her, opened up her computer, and checked her email to find Logan had sent her his "homework"—a couple of bad but suitably angsty poems, including one he'd titled "I Cut Because I Can."

It—and Duncan and Lilly's joking replies—brought a genuine smile to her face. She typed out a quick note of thanks before opening a page in her binder. After some thought, she selected a fountain pen she'd loaded with a blood red ink capsule, then proceeded to copy the first poem out onto the page. She deliberately added a few words only to cross them out to reinforce the appearance of a draft. Once she'd finished, she turned to a fresh page and chose another pen, this one with ink in a virulent green, for the other poem.

She had just closed her binder and was considering opening a chat room to invite the rest of the Fab Four into when her father walked through the door. She pulled off her headphones and tilted her head as she regarded him.

His jaw was rigid, his eyes tired. But when he met her gaze, they warmed and he smiled wearily. "Hi honey. I knocked, but when you didn't answer, I figured you might have your music on."

"Yeah," she said. _Now what?_

"May I sit?" He gestured toward the bed beside her.

"Sure, Dad."

"I'm sorry about earlier, honey."

Veronica's eyes were hard as she met his. "You have nothing to apologize for. The same is not true of _Lianne._ "

He winced. "How long have you known about her drinking?"

She sighed. "Two years, give or take."

"And the affair with Jake?"

"The same."

"I'm sorry, honey."

"As I've said, you have nothing to apologize for."

"I can still be sorry. I hoped to protect you from this."

"Dad, she might have given birth to me but I am 100 percent your daughter." She ignored the way his eyes flinched, just a fraction, at her words. "There was no way I wouldn't find out about what was going on."

"Why didn't you come and talk to me?"

"Plausible deniability." She offered him the ghost of a smile. "It's practically the Mars family motto."

"It doesn't mean you can't talk to me, sweetie."

"I know, Dad."

"And plausible deniability aside, you know if you told me you'd murdered someone, I'd help you bury the body, right?"

"Daaad," she whined, glad for this bit of levity. "You say that like I don't know incineration would be a better option."

He smiled. "Help you burn the body then. Preferably that body would belong to someone like Aaron Echolls or Troy Vandegraff."

She smirked. "You bet." Then she sobered. "What happens now? Is Mom—is Lianne going back into rehab?"

He sighed, pulled her into a hug. "Yes, kiddo, she is. I talked her into a 90-day in-patient program."

"Three months?"

"Three months."

"What happens after that? Would she come home?"

"Well, when she's sober, I thought maybe she'd want to stay in the condo in LA for a while. Then we could discuss things as a family and see where we go from there."

Veronica opened her mouth to protest, then stopped. Thought for a moment. Remembered the feeling as her mother's hand connected with her cheek. "Okay, Dad," she whispered.

"You know I love you, right?"

She smiled. "Yes, Daddy. I love you too."

He kissed the top of her head. "And, for what it's worth, I know your mother loves you too."

She thought about that for a moment, thought about everything she'd learned about her family in the past two years. She pulled away so she could look him in the eye. "I know that, Dad. I just don't know if she loves me as much as she loves booze. Or Jake Kane. It's pretty obvious where you rank in her hierarchy of needs."

He smiled tiredly. "It's okay, honey. We found out a long time ago that we just don't fit."

She frowned. "Am I the only reason you've stayed together?"

"No," he said slowly, "not the only one."

"But the main one?" She could see from his eyes that she was right. She sighed. "Dad, you shouldn't stay with her just because of me. I'm not some kid who thinks her parents divorcing is the end of the world. And she's hardly ever home anyway. She doesn't even have the excuse of running a company, like you do."

"I understand how you feel, Veronica. But this isn't a decision we need to make today. Today I'm going to drive your mom to a rehab clinic upstate, but it might mean I won't make it back until morning. Do you think you can stay with Lilly?"

She stared at his face for a long moment, assessing. "Things are a little weird between me and Lilly right now, Dad."

He frowned. "Are you fighting?"

"More like, I'm making a point, and she needs a little time to accept the new reality of things."

"Does this have anything to do with why you're wearing significantly less pink these days?"

She smiled and shrugged. "Something like that."

He smiled back. "Well, for what it's worth, I think you look beautiful, honey. And it's nice to see you expressing your personality through your fashion a little more."

She grinned. "Yeah, I decided I'd let people see I'm not always the pink Veronica they think of me as. Wallflower just isn't my speed anymore."

He smirked. "Was it ever?"

She shrugged again. Then, thinking of someone who still lived in quite a lot of pastel colors, she brightened. "I could call Meg."

He frowned. "Meg? Meg Manning? I didn't know you were all that close to her."

"It's a recent thing. She's nice, really nice. As nice as I used to pretend to be. A real-life Disney princess."

He smirked. "I can't imagine what you might have in common, then. You, my brilliant, scheming Robin, are many things, but 'nice' is not a word I would apply to you."

"Har, har. I can be nice." She laughed. "But, yeah, probably only because I want something. Meg's like the last genuinely good person in Neptune. If I saw woodland animals flocking to her as she sings, I wouldn't be surprised."

He rubbed his chin thoughtfully. "Disney princess, huh?"

"Absolutely."

"Complete with an evil stepmother or evil sisters?"

She laughed. "I don't know, but somehow I don't think so. I've only met her parents a couple of times. Mostly at like school events. They seem really into their church stuff. And Lizzie's kind of a wild child, but I wouldn't call her _evil_."

"Hmm."

"What?"

"These are the Mannings who are always trying to talk the PTA into adding prayer time into morning homeroom?"

She sighed. "Yeah. But Meg's not like that, Dad."

"I don't know, honey."

"It's one night, Dad."

"Fine, call Meg. If her parents agree to let you stay over, I want to meet them, though."

"You're gonna order a background check on her parents, aren't you?"

Keith gave her a look of exaggerated innocence. "Honey. Would I do that?"

"In a Peloponnesian minute!"

"Well then, just so that's clear and out in the open." He rose from the bed, made a show of dusting off his jeans. "I'm going to go pack a bag and make a few calls, and I'll leave you to do the same."

"Okay, Dad." She sighed and stood up too. Then leaned over and gave him a tight hug, just holding on for a moment and pretending she was the kind of girl who believed her dad could make everything in the world okay just by willing it so. He returned the hug just as fiercely. "I love you, Dad."

"I know, kiddo." He stepped back, ruffled her hair. "Even if you are going to cost me what's left of my hair, associating with Disney princesses and the leaders of biker gangs."

"Say what now?"

He smirked. "Plausible deniability, right? But you keep an eye on both of them."

"They're good people, Dad. And I have no idea what kind of trouble you think Meg would cause. I'm pretty sure Duncan's gonna ask her out soon, then they'll be the royal prince and princess of Neptune High."

"I'm actually not too worried about Eli Navarro," Keith said, smiling. "But you know I never trust the squeaky clean ones."

She'd actually heard him say that a few times. "Because they're either liabilities or threats?"

"Exactly."

"Well, I'm pretty sure Meg Manning isn't a threat."

"Then you need to find out how she's a liability. Just in case."

He left the room after that. Veronica stared after him, then smiled and shook her head. She pulled up Meg's number on her phone and placed a call. "Hi Meg! I've got a favor to ask you."

* * *

As it turned out, Meg didn't answer Veronica's call, so she ended up leaving a voice mail message for her asking if there was any chance she could stay overnight. She shot a message at her dad telling him she was waiting to hear back from Meg. Keith responded that he'd be working in his home office if she needed anything in the meantime and asked her to keep him updated about Meg as well as reconsider staying with the Kanes.

Figuring the Fab Four would be up in arms if she didn't update them, she opened up their chat app and created a room, inviting them all once she took a moment to think about their chat names.

 **TinkerBell:** Veronica Mars! I didn't know we were scheduled to chat today, but I'm happy to communicate with you however you like because SOMEBODY won't let me make things up in public yet.

 **CaptainHook:** Yeah, short chat, I've got updates.

 **PeterPan:** Hi Veronica, what's up?

 **CaptainHook:** We should wait for Logan.

 **Crocodile:** I'm here, I'm here. Why do I always get these kinds of nicknames from you people?

 **TinkerBell:** I think it's fitting. You've had a taste of Veronica and now want to eat her whole. I, for one, am all for it.

 **CaptainHook:** Eww, Lilly!

 **Crocodile:** Point.

 **TinkerBell:** I didn't mean it that way. Veronica Mars, I never knew you had such a gutter brain.

 **CaptainHook:** If I do, it's your fault.

 **TinkerBell:** Yes, well, now you've brought it up I can tell you that Logan's mouth is a not-to-be-missed experience.

 **Crocodile:** Thank you for the ringing endorsement.

 **TinkerBell:** Anytime, lovah. I know how to give credit where credit's due.

 **PeterPan:** I am very uncomfortable right now.

 **CaptainHook:** Me too, so I'm just gonna move on with the updates. My dad's driving my mom to a rehab facility today so she can dry out, and she may or may not be welcome home when she completes the program.

 **TinkerBell:** WTF!

 **PeterPan:** What?! What happened?

 **Crocodile:** Are you okay?

 **TinkerBell:** OMG yes, are you okay?

 **CaptainHook:** Yes, I'm okay. It's been a long time coming. Not really ready to get into the details, but things blew up this morning. Basically it turns out my dad is well aware of Lianne's infidelity and mostly stayed with her cause he thought I needed my mom around. I've told him I think he should think about divorce.

 **TinkerBell:** OMG, Daddy and Celeste are gonna shit bricks, for different reasons.

 **PeterPan:** Mom's probably gonna freeze up. I have no idea what Dad's gonna do.

 **Crocodile:** What did you say about rehab?

 **CaptainHook:** Well, you guys have probably heard that the word around town is my mom's a favored patron at several of the local bars. Let's just say she took the problem home, I found out, and my dad blew a gasket.

 **TinkerBell:** I'm sorry, sister-mine.

 **CaptainHook:** It is what it is.

 **Crocodile:** Your dad's like the last good parent of the Neptune 09 district, I swear to god.

 **CaptainHook:** Hey, I like your mom.

 **Crocodile:** So do I, but she's still with Aaron, so... I am aware of her flaws. One of which she apparently shares with your mom.

 **CaptainHook:** Yeah.

 **PeterPan:** I'm sorry you're going through a tough time, little sister.

 **CaptainHook:** Thanks, Duncan.

 **TinkerBell:** Veronica… How long has this been going on?

 **CaptainHook:** My mom's drinking?

 **TinkerBell:** Yes. And why did you never say anything about it?

 **CaptainHook:** A few years, I guess. And, well, I guess I didn't want to add anything to all the stuff we were already juggling. She's always been a better mom when eyes were watching than she has been in private, anyhow.

 **Crocodile:** I can't believe we never noticed.

 **TinkerBell:** Me neither. We should do better.

 **CaptainHook:** There's nothing to do about, guys. My mom's sick, and she's getting help. But she also makes very bad decisions for herself and it may be time for my dad to consider how long he's going to keep letting her get away with it. Especially since I think he knows she will always think of herself as Jake Kane's girl.

 **TinkerBell:** He deserves better.

 **Crocodile:** We all fucking deserve better.

 **PeterPan:** Wait, does your dad know about the paternity thing?

 **CaptainHook:** I'm 90% sure he does. But I don't know if he's ready to talk about that. Maybe if he does move forward with a separation and/or divorce. He was pretty upset that I knew about Jake and the drinking. I don't want to pile stuff on him.

 **Crocodile:** You really need to get over this skittishness about overburdening people, Veronica. We're your family. We're here for you. And you take on everybody else's burdens. I wish you'd let us lighten the load.

 **CaptainHook:** Thanks, Logan.

 **TinkerBell:** We love you, baby sis! And Logan's right. You should've told us.

 **Crocodile:** Of course I am.

 **CaptainHook:** All right, all right. I'm sorry.

 **Crocodile:** I'm sorry I didn't notice.

 **PeterPan:** We all are.

 **CaptainHook:** Nothing to be sorry about, guys. Anyway, to continue with updates: my dad asked me if I could stay over at the Kanes' tonight, but I said things are a bit awkward, so I left Meg a message asking her if she'd be open to an impromptu slumber party. She didn't answer when I called.

 **PeterPan:** She's probably at church. I think her parents go early and they stay all the way until lunchtime.

 **CaptainHook:** Woah, how long does a service last?

 **Crocodile:** Not all morning, I wouldn't think.

 **PeterPan:** Her parents are kind of creepily religious.

 **CaptainHook:** How so? Dad mentioned they're always trying to recruit people into their church.

 **PeterPan:** Yeah, and they're really strict about how Meg and her sisters can dress, I think.

 **TinkerBell:** Pretty sure Meg's sister Lizzie is doing the slutty freshman thing as a rebellion. She's kind of scarily determined to sleep with half the lacrosse team, or maybe the football team. Or both. She and Meg don't talk much when they're at school.

 **Crocodile:** So it's possible all is not well in Disneyland?

 **CaptainHook:** On one hand, it's Neptune. Are we even surprised? On the other hand, if anyone should have a picture-perfect family, it's Meg Manning. I'm pretty sure she spends her time volunteering to help sick kids or something.

 **PeterPan:** She's really good with kids. She does spend some time at the hospital, reading to the kids in the children's ward stories and stuff.

 **TinkerBell:** Oh lord, she really IS Saint Meg, isn't she? But actually I knew about the kids. She babysits for extra cash.

 **CaptainHook:** I always thought that was kind of weird. I mean, she's an 09er, and her parents are fairly well off. Not many of us have side jobs.

 **Crocodile:** Says the teenage PI.

 **CaptainHook:** Okay, point. But we know why I'm doing it, and it's not the cash. So why does she do it?

 **PeterPan:** She seems to be saving up for something. What, I couldn't tell you, though.

 **TinkerBell:** How much do you creepily know about the object of your affections, little brother?

 **CaptainHook:** Well, maybe if she lets me come over later, I'll do a little poking around.

 **TinkerBell:** And maybe push her in the Donut's direction? I'm getting kind of sick of his pining.

 **PeterPan:** Says the girl who spends way too much time whining about how much she misses Veronica.

 **TinkerBell:** At least I can tell the object of my sisterly affection that I miss her. You've concocted some lame secret admirer plans that you haven't even started to act upon.

 **PeterPan:** I'm waiting for the right opportunity.

 **TinkerBell:** Wait much longer, and you'll be graduating before you've said anything.

 **CaptainHook:** All right. Enough with the Duncan bashing. But Duncan, if you need any help plotting your grand romance, you know we're all here for you, okay?

 **PeterPan:** Thanks, Veronica.

 **Crocodile:** If only I were so lucky.

 **CaptainHook:** Logan, when you're not playing the jerk, you're practically the local Justin Timberlake. You can have any girl in Neptune High with the crook of a finger.

 **Crocodile:** You would be surprised.

 **TinkerBell:** OMG I don't know if I should laugh or cry, guys.

 **CaptainHook:** Speaking of laughing-vs-crying topics, LOGAN, OMG those poems. They're perfect.

 **TinkerBell:** Oh yes! More, please! They're so awesomely emo.

 **PeterPan:** And I owe you a video game.

 **Crocodile:** Thank you, thank you, kind friends. And Duncan, yes, you do.

 **CaptainHook:** I've copied them into my binder and will show them to Casey and Ms. Mills at the next meeting. Good job, Lo.

Veronica would have said more, but her phone started to ring. Hearing her generic tone, she checked the caller ID, and smiled when she saw Meg's photo on the screen.

"Hi Meg!"

"Hi Veronica! Sorry I didn't answer when you called. I was at church."

Score one for Duncan. "No problem. Sorry for calling at the last minute, but my dad and mom have to go out of town all of a sudden and my dad doesn't want me staying home on my own, for some unfathomable reason. I'm sixteen, not six."

Meg laughed. "He's just looking out for you. Anyway, I talked to my parents, and we have some church and community stuff until lunchtime, but you're free to come over anytime after two o'clock. And my sister Lizzie and I would love to ride to school with you tomorrow instead of having our mom drive us, thank you very much."

"Awesome. I'll be there."

"I'll send you my address. I don't think you've been to my house before."

"Thanks. And I promise, next time, we can have the slumber party at my place."

Meg laughed again. "I'll hold you to it."

"See you soon, then!"

"See you later, alligator!"

Reminded of other alligator-like things, Veronica typed out a quick explanation of the developments in the chat room, then bid the Fab Four goodbye before logging out and going to see her dad. Keith decided to co-opt the rest of the morning, plus lunch, for daddy-daughter time, and Veronica was happy to indulge him.

Daddy-daughter time, as it happened, involved a walk on the beach and a heaping load of Italian food. And zero discussion of the morning's events, which suited them both just fine.

Afterward, they went back home so Veronica could pack a bag and drive her car to Meg's, with Keith following behind her. They pulled up in front of a large house with an honest-to-god white picket fence around it. The street outside it was fairly empty, so Veronica and her dad both parked on the curb and climbed out of their cars.

"Honey, I want you to keep your eyes open while you're there, okay?" Keith said, tugging on her elbow before she could make her way toward the front door.

"Yeah, Dad. Don't I always?"

He frowned. "No, I mean. I'm not so sure about this Stewart Manning character. I looked him up, and the information I dug up on his church has my gut twinging."

Veronica raised her eyebrows at them, but they must have been noticed as the front door opened and Mr. and Mrs. Manning stepped outside and waved at them, with Meg following behind them. All three Mannings wore identically social yet empty smiles, and Veronica felt a chill on the back of her neck at the sight. She forced a smile to her face, and waved.

"Later," Keith muttered, then smiled at the Mannings too, striding forward to offer Mr. Manning a hand.

Veronica started after him, but Meg stepped forward. "Veronica, my dad says you can pack on our driveway instead of leaving your car in the street. I can show you where."

"Oh, cool. Thanks!"

The girls climbed into Veronica's SUV, and with Meg's direction, Veronica pulled up into the driveway and parked in front of a two-car garage. Then she grabbed her overnight bag as well as her messenger bag for school from the back seat and followed the other girl up to the back door.

She watched as Meg pulled a key from under the flower pot to one side and opened the door, before returning the key to its hiding spot. "That's… not really very secure," Veronica observed.

Meg laughed a little nervously. "Yeah, well. Don't mention that to my dad, will you?"

Veronica raised an eyebrow. Did saintly Meg Manning sneak out of the house on a regular basis? "No problem."

Meg showed Veronica up to a room that was done up in white and pale pinks and greens. "I hope I'm not kicking anyone out of their bed," Veronica said, seeing two beds in the room.

"No, my sister used to sleep in here with me, but Dad gave us each our own room after Lizzie started high school."

"Cool. I can't say I've talked to Lizzie much, but I look forward to getting to know her."

"Oh. Um. I don't think you guys run in the same circles. She and I, well, we're not much alike."

Veronica smiled, thinking about how different her own personality was from Lilly and Duncan's. "That's kind of par for the course, with siblings, isn't it?"

Meg smiled. "Yeah, I guess. I forgot you were an only child."

Veronica bit back a chuckle at that. "So, any rules I should know about?"

Meg frowned. "Um, I'm not sure. We have supper fairly early, and I hope you don't mind that my parents tend to say a rather extended grace before mealtimes."

"I don't mind. I mean, my parents aren't particularly religious, so if it doesn't matter that I'm not really familiar with a lot of prayers, then I'm happy to just observe and be respectful."

"That's perfect. I'm really glad you're here, Veronica."

Veronica smiled. "I am too. Thanks for letting me come over." She frowned. "I should go and thank your parents also. And say goodbye to my dad."

Meg stood. "I'll bring you down, then, and show you around when you're done so you know where everything is and can meet everybody."

"Thanks."

Mr. and Mrs. Manning were effusive in their welcome, and Keith put on his "social" face, so Veronica dredged up her "pink" persona and ran with it, silently thinking it was just as well she'd brought jeans and a shirt to wear to school tomorrow instead of one of her short skirts.

The Mannings were all in conservative dress, even Lizzie, who was in some kind of white-shirt-and-sweater-vest combo that made her look like she was in grade school. She looked almost unrecognizable from the short-skirted, heavily made up freshman Veronica was used to seeing.

Meg's youngest sister, Grace, was in a white dress that wouldn't have looked out of place in an episode of _Little House on the Prairie_. In contrast to Meg's effusive cheer and Lizzie's smothered disdain for all things living, the youngest Manning girl was painfully shy and barely said more than "hello" despite Veronica's best attempts to speak with her.

Later, in Meg's room, Veronica asked about Lizzie, and Meg sighed. "She rolls up the waistband of her skirts, ditches the sweaters, and keeps makeup in her locker at school. My mother wouldn't let her out of the house looking the way she does at school."

As it turned out, Meg and Veronica had a few classes in common, so they spent the afternoon working on homework and chatting about other Neptune High students.

"Everyone seems to think you're at war with Lilly, and possibly Logan, though Logan won't hear people trashing you beyond a certain point, so I'm not too sure about that."

Veronica shrugged. "It's not really a war so much as a standoff. I've drawn my line in the sand, and Lilly and Logan can either get with the program or we can call irreconcilable differences." She paused. "That being said, we will be picking Logan up in the morning before going to school."

Meg stared at her, mouth agape. "We're picking Logan Echolls up for school?"

"Yep." Veronica popped the P carelessly. "I take it you heard about Friday's drug bust at school?"

"Who didn't?" Meg frowned. "I never would've pegged Logan for a user."

"He's not, and some sort of fire at the sheriff's station damaged the evidence, so the case against him has been dropped, as has the suspension. But someone planted those drugs, and he's hired me to clear his name."

"Huh." After taking a moment to absorb the information, Meg asked, "What do you mean, he's hired you?"

"Oh, haven't you heard? I've started a little amateur PI business at school. Minor things, really, but it's fun and my dad's grateful I'm not going after actual money shots for his own clients."

Meg laughed. "Well, that sounds way more interesting than the babysitting I've been doing."

Veronica shuddered. "I would make a terrible babysitter. I wouldn't know what to do with a kid."

"Just a few years ago, we were kids ourselves."

"Ha! I burst fully-formed out of the ether, like Athena."

This earned her a pseudo-censorious look. "Veronica, I know you like to know everything about everyone, but calling yourself the goddess of wisdom is stretching it a bit far, don't you think?"

"Maybe. Anyway, Logan's dad is still pretty pissed about the whole thing, so he asked my dad if I could take Logan to school for the next couple of weeks because he was taking away Logan's car privileges. So here I am, playing chauffeur to the jerk."

"Maybe he'll take the opportunity to grovel."

"Maybe so."

"I actually thought he'd end up with you and not Lilly, you know."

Veronica raised her eyebrows at the other girl. "Did you now?"

Meg waved a hand in a vague sort of gesture that was half dismissive and half helpless. "It's just, he watches you sometimes, you know? And kind of watches over you. He doesn't let the guys say bad things about you, and he's never been like that over Lilly. Like, I remember Shelly's end-of-year party last year, when Sean Friedrich made a joke about spiking your drink, and Logan just decked him."

"Huh. I don't remember that." She did remember hearing about Logan hitting the guy, actually. And she remembered Logan had never explained why he'd done it.

"Anyway, he's very protective of you. And Lilly loves you. I'm sure you guys will all be friends again soon, just as soon as they stop acting like brats. Duncan seems ready to call truce."

"Well, I hope so, but I won't hold my breath. I mean, Duncan's always been the peacemaker among us—"

"Funny, I would've said that was you. I think maybe Duncan is unsure of how to deal with all the drama."

"With Lilly Kane for a sister? He'll need to learn fast."

"Too true, too true."

"I've seen you and him getting pretty cozy at lunch lately, though."

The other girl blushed a bit. "He stands up to Lilly sometimes, when Lilly gets on my case for being such a goody-goody."

"She just likes to stir things up. But I'm glad Duncan is calling her on her BS."

Meg nodded. "He didn't used to, at least not with you. But he's been very sweet."

"Well, if him being quicker to jump into the fray instead of sitting on the sidelines is what comes out of this whole fiasco, I can't think that's a bad thing. He's a great guy who just needs to stand up for himself and his friends a bit more often."

"He _is_ pretty great."

"When he's not being an ass. But maybe he just needs a little TLC and guidance or something." Veronica giggled. "Think he'd be willing to go and see Ms. James?"

Meg laid a hand on Veronica's shoulder and squeezed. "I'm sure they'll come to their senses soon. It's just high school drama. And probably teenage hormones."

Veronica rolled her eyes. "You say that like you're thirty and not my age."

Meg shot her a pious look. "Maybe I'm an old soul."

"Ha! Good one. Anyway, I'm kind of happy to be out of Lilly's shadow and making new friends."

"Oh? Do tell."

So Veronica told Meg about Wallace and the PCHers, then mentioned she'd joined the literary magazine and had been partnered up with Casey as well. They spent the rest of the afternoon gossiping until Mrs. Manning knocked on Meg's door to let them know dinner would be ready in a few minutes.

The girls washed up and headed down, only for Veronica to be treated to the most awkward dinner she had ever partaken of in her life. And considering she'd had dinners with the Kanes and suffered Celeste's dagger eyes, that was saying something.

Mr. Manning said grace like he was on a pulpit. It was long-winded and full of ominous intonations that Veronica didn't think were very Christian-sounding. Apart from requests to pass this dish or that up or down the table, the rest of the family barely spoke throughout the meal. Mr. Manning split his time between sermoning everyone, interrogating Veronica, and being overly complimentary about her father.

By the time they'd finished dessert, Veronica was left with the impression of a self-aggrandizing, sexist zealot who maintained an iron fist of control over his family. It was not an impression that left her with much confidence that Meg had a happy home life, despite the girl's sunny attitude.

Once their plates had been cleared, with Mrs. Manning insisting on doing all the dishes, Veronica aimed her best "Amber" smile at Meg's father. "Thanks again for having me, Mr. Manning."

"It's no problem at all, Veronica."

"If it's all right with you, can I take Lizzie and Meg out to breakfast so you and Mrs. Manning can sleep in tomorrow. It's the least I can do, and Meg mentioned you guys have been doing good works for your church since this morning."

"I don't think that's necessary."

"Oh, certainly not, dear," Mrs. Manning said. "I'm happy to make breakfast for all of you."

Not to be gainsaid, Veronica tilted her head at Mr. Manning. "Please? It would make me feel so much better after imposing on you guys like this. And my dad told me to offer, even gave me extra money for it. He'll want to know that I did what he said."

That seemed to do it. Mr. Manning smiled at the mention of Keith. "Well, I wouldn't want to prevent a dutiful daughter from carrying out her father's instructions."

"He's really grateful to you and your family, Mr. Manning. And so am I."

"Well, we hope to see more of you in the future. I had no idea Meg was so friendly with Keith Mars' daughter."

"She's been really great to me," Veronica was quick to assure him.

"That is good. The Lord looks kindly upon those who care for others as themselves."

Not knowing what to say in response to that, Veronica kept silent.

Meg came to her rescue. "May we be excused, Daddy? We have some homework to finish up. Veronica's in a lot of my AP classes."

"Of course, of course. It is good that you work so hard. Your father must be proud."

"That's what he says." Veronica's voice was bland, but there must have been some sarcasm in her tone, because Meg caught her eye and shook her head.

The girls excused themselves, as did Lizzie and Grace. As they went up the stairs, Veronica called out to Lizzie. "You okay with leaving a little early, Lizzie?" she asked. "And like I said, breakfast is my treat."

"Whatever, and it better be."

Veronica smiled. "We can hit Java the Hut and you can borrow my makeup while they get our orders."

Lizzie's mouth quirked a bit. "Fine." She raised her eyes to meet Meg's, and the sisters shared some kind of silent communication Veronica couldn't really translate. "I'll be ready."

"Good night, then."

Meg and Veronica went back to Meg's room. After Meg shut the door, she turned to Veronica, both eyebrows raised. "What was that?"

"Well, doesn't the Lord look kindly upon those who help others? I'm just helping Lizzie out."

Meg rolled her eyes. "Whatever you say, Veronica, whatever you say. You didn't mention Logan."

"Oh, that reminds me, I need to text him and let him know he'll need to get out of bed extra early tomorrow. Just to add some sunshine and joy to his Monday morning."

She whipped out her phone and sent Logan a message. _Early breakfast tomorrow with Meg and Lizzie. Pick you up at 6:45._

 _Got it. At that hour, you_ _'re buying. Coffee AND food._

 _It_ _'s a date._

 _I wish._

Ugh, not that again.

When Meg asked Veronica what Logan had said and the shorter blond had shown her the conversation, she'd gotten a sly look from Neptune's High's resident saint. "You know, somehow I don't think he'll be as grumpy about joining us for an early breakfast as you think he will be."

Veronica shrugged. "That's probably true, but you never know."

* * *

AUTHOR'S NOTE: Posting a little later than usual, but I got delayed writing cause of a minor head injury and the fact that it's the weekend of the provincial festival where I live, and counter-terrorism measures have the government shutting down mobile/internet connections in certain areas. Apologies for the day, and thank you as always to the brilliant Irma66 for beta-reading like it's an Olympic sport! Next update: 30 January 2019.


	15. The Music of the People

**Chapter 15: The Music of the People**

* * *

SUMMARY: The Manning sisters, Veronica, and Logan do breakfast. Lilly pulls a prank. And there may be a new foursome in town.

* * *

Veronica's eyes snapped open in the predawn light, and she stiffened, for one moment unsure of where she was. Then she remembered she'd stayed the night at Meg's, and she had offered to treat the two older Manning sisters, plus Logan, to breakfast today. She scrambled for her watch just a moment before it started beeping; it was set to go off at six every morning. She sat up and took stock of her surroundings.

Meg was still asleep in her bed, so Veronica padded quietly toward the bathroom to get ready for school. Knowing she didn't have the luxury of her own bathroom for the entire morning, Veronica quickly washed up, changed, and applied a basic amount of makeup. Her outfit was simple enough—dark jeans, a turquoise tee, and ankle boots. She had a studded leather jacket that went over everything, but she'd left it in the car, not wanting to give the Mannings the wrong impression.

She emerged from the bathroom to find that Meg was no longer in the bedroom. Veronica decided to pack up her stuff while she waited for the other girl, who came in several minutes later, fully dressed.

"I used the bathroom down the hall," Meg explained.

"We're a bit early. It only takes about ten minutes to get to Logan's from here."

"Lizzie's not ready yet, so we can just hang out here until it's time to leave."

Meg seemed to have decided that Veronica had slept over in order to become her personal Barbie doll because they spent the next quarter hour primping. Or, rather, Meg fussed with Veronica's hair, adding little waves with a curling iron, while Veronica sat at the picture-perfectly pretty dresser and tilted her head where told, when told.

"I'm pretty sure Lilly misses you," Meg said idly as she curled.

"What makes you say that?"

"She's taken to watching you as often as Logan does, these days. Madison Sinclair has made it her personal mission in life to become Lilly Kane's new BFF, but it's not happening."

"Well, Lilly never did like Madison much." Lilly loathed Madison Sinclair with a deep and abiding passion. In fact, the bottle blond was only third on Lilly's shit list because Aaron Echolls and Celeste Kane were infinitely more hateful.

"You know, people are saying that the reason you two haven't made up yet is that Logan's got his sights on you." Meg smiled. "I could have told them that years ago."

"Logan should enjoy his singlehood," Veronica said on a sigh. "I mean, there are people in the universe outside the Fab Four. Outside the 09ers, even."

Meg snorted lightly and continued to fuss with Veronica's hair.

Veronica narrowed her eyes at the other girl's reflection in the mirror. "What?"

The other blond took the time to turn off the curling iron and inspect her handiwork. "There. You look so pretty!"

Veronica rolled her eyes. "Thank you, Meg. But I distinctly heard an un-Meg-like snort and would like to know what that was about. Neptune's own Disney princess expressing derision over something?"

"Veronica." She heard censure, humor, and exasperation in equal parts in Meg's tone. "Logan Echolls has always watched you way more carefully than a boy who thinks of you as a friend or even as convenient-due-to-proximity girlfriend material. And he's looked at you that way since he arrived in Neptune. Before you decided to become the Fab Four, I might add."

"Before we were the Fab Four was, what? Seventh grade? I was flat as a board and looked like an eight-year-old, thanks to my being the shortest person in class at the time."

"And yet observant eyes noticed the way he lit up whenever he saw you." Meg laughed at the obstinacy and denial writ plain on Veronica's face.

"Har, har, hyuk it up, why don't you?"

"I'm serious though. Logan Echolls has the hots for you. Mark my words, Veronica."

Just then, a knock sounded on Meg's door. "You guys ready to go?" Lizzie asked. She was in a white shirt, a cardigan, and black knee-length skirt. She looked like a very young librarian.

"Sure," Veronica said, grateful for the interruption. She picked up her overnight bag as well as her messenger bag. "Are your parents up? I should say thank you."

"Mom is."

Mrs. Manning delivered textbook-perfect lines of graciousness when Veronica thanked her for letting her stay the night. After providing a vague answer to an open invitation to future visits and offering a cheery goodbye to the ghostly Grace, whom Veronica had learned the night before was being homeschooled due to poor health, she led the two elder Manning sisters out to her car.

Lizzie climbed in the back and was visibly surprised when Meg climbed in beside her.

"I hope you don't mind, but we're dropping by the Echolls place to pick Logan up. My dad promised his dad we'd give him a ride since he's got driving privileges revoked after the whole locker inspection thing on Friday." Veronica had already sent Logan a text that they were on their way, so she put the car into gear and pulled out of the Manning's driveway.

Lizzie rolled her eyes. "Of _course_ the school would just let him back in after that. Don't want to piss off Daddy Echolls, now, do they?"

Veronica shrugged. "I heard there was a mishap with the evidence and the sheriff dropped all charges. So the school had to let him back in. Otherwise Mr. Echolls might have kicked up a fuss."

"And he did get his car taken away," Meg added.

"Oh boohoo, King of the 09ers has to be driven by a friend for a few days."

"Two weeks, actually."

Lizzie smirked. "If it were really a punishment, he'd have to take the bus."

"Logan Echolls on a school bus would certainly be a sight to behold," Veronica said, chuckling at the thought. Even before he'd gotten his "baby," he'd been chauffeured around in the Echolls town car. He'd never ridden the bus, to her knowledge. Anytime they had a field trip, some 09er would come up with some bogus doctor's note saying they couldn't ride in a car without air conditioning, thereby allowing them to take a private vehicle to wherever they needed to go.

She pulled up in front of the Echolls mansion, honked her horn. Logan must have been waiting, because he was out the door before the noise had faded in the face of sunny suburbia. He opened the front passenger door with assessing eyes and his mouth twisted in a smirk. "Mars."

"Echolls." She raised an eyebrow at him. "Get in if you want to eat."

He climbed inside and smiled widely at the pair of blonds in the back. "And the Manning sisters, I see!"

"Hi Logan," Meg said wryly. "You'll be pleased to note I left the front passenger seat for you. Feel free to express your gratitude"

"I would be, except with how tiny Veronica is, the legroom at the back is actually pretty decent."

Meg smirked. "You're grateful anyway."

"Maybe."

"So where are we having breakfast?" Lizzie asked.

"There's that diner by the beach," Veronica suggested. "They have excellent waffles. And fluffy pancakes."

"If there's one thing that Veronica can be relied upon, it's knowing where there is decent food to be had," Logan said, smiling at her. "And since she's buying, it won't bankrupt me like it usually does to see her eating her fill."

The Mannings both giggled, and Veronica rolled her eyes, but headed for the diner anyway.

Ten minutes later, they were seated at a table, Logan and Veronica on one side and Meg on the other. Lizzie had appropriated Veronica's toiletry kit and made for the bathroom right after giving her order.

"So," Meg said. "You guys are car buddies for two weeks. I guess this is your dad's idea of punishment?"

"Well, one of them, anyway." Logan was tugging at his sleeves. Veronica felt the acid churn in her gut. She had noticed he'd been slow to climb out of the car earlier and had taken the initiative of being the one to slide into the booth so he could take the seat closer to the aisle. She knew Aaron had left to go on a shoot this morning, and she suspected his goodbyes had been less than affectionate.

They chatted about school, among other things. Meg kept giving Veronica glances with her eyebrows raised, usually whenever she and Logan traded snarky comments.

"By the way," Logan said as he watched the waitress set their orders on the table, "my mom wants to know if you're free this weekend."

"Who, me?"

"Yep." He popped the P. "She says she likes your new look and would like to contribute to your wardrobe by taking you on her next shopping trip in LA."

Veronica frowned. "She's never wanted to do that before."

"Well, you've also always had my ex-girlfriend to shop with before."

"How does she even know what's going on between Lilly and me?"

"Uh, she talks to the housekeeper. Whose grandson the fabulous Lilly Kane is currently banging."

Meg sputtered around a sip of OJ. "Did you say Lilly was sleeping with Weevil?"

Logan's face was a textbook in faked surprise and malevolent satisfaction. Both were an act, but it was a layered performance Veronica approved of. Not for the first time, she thought he must have inherited his mom's talent. Aaron Echolls wasn't capable of this level of subtlety. "What? Like it's news?"

Meg was gaping at him. "You know very well it is, Logan!" she said after a moment. "Does Duncan know?"

"That his sister and the head of the local bike gang are riding more than his hog?" Meg turned bright red at Logan's words, but she nodded. He shrugged. "Probably. It doesn't do Lilly any good to keep him a secret. I mean, you have to know that most of his charm is that there is no way he fits in with the Kanes' image, right? And Lilly does so love to give Celeste conniptions whenever possible."

"Lilly just likes making her own rules," Veronica said with a sigh.

"Lilly likes having Lilly's way, always. The only thing she likes better than giving Celeste the metaphorical finger is dressing skimpily at my place to show my dad what he wants but can't have." There was something dark in Logan's tone.

Meg gasped at his words, but it was Veronica who snapped at him. "LOGAN! What is wrong with you?" She glared at him, then pushed her coffee his way. "Here, have some of my coffee. Maybe it'll improve your disposition."

"I can think of a few other things that could improve his disposition," Lizzie said, plunking down in the booth beside her sister, now clad in a red top that showed off her generous cleavage, with the black skirt only down to mid-thigh.

Veronica took a moment to be surprised at how the younger girl had made the rather sparse supply of makeup work for her. Veronica had certainly never used her eyeliner and mascara to create that limpid look, and though she carried a couple of Lilly's preferred lipsticks out of habit, she'd never worn that shade of dark red herself. She narrowed her eyes as Lizzie turned that doe-eyed gaze on Logan.

"Can you now?" Logan murmured, a smirk on his face and in his voice.

"I'd be happy to make a few suggest—"

"Eat up, Lizzie. We've got to head to school in a bit." Veronica illustrated her point by forking up some of her own waffle. "Logan, you eat too. Don't go to school hangry."

Meg raised her eyebrows at Veronica in that way she had. Veronica refused to meet her friend's eyes. Fortunately, Logan was quick to jump in.

"Hangry?"

Veronica waved a dismissive hand. "You know, 'hungry' plus 'angry' equals 'hangry.'"

"That's not a real word."

"Is too! Now eat your food. No hangry people will be allowed back into my car."

"Yes, ma'am." He saluted her jokingly, then dug into his own meal—a bacon and cheese omelet with toast on the side. He took a bite, and she handed him the salt before he could ask for it. "Thanks," he said, and proceeded to rain salt over his eggs, rendering them totally disgusting, Veronica knew from experience.

"Are you trying to preserve those eggs?" Meg asked, amused.

"I just like 'em salty."

"So I can see."

"So Veronica, gonna take my mom up on her offer?"

Veronica sighed. "I'll let you know tomorrow, okay? I'll need to talk to my dad." She looked across the table to where Meg was giving her another one of those looks. Seriously? But she remembered that Duncan was hoping to ask the girl to homecoming. "Meg should come. We could look around for outfits for homecoming."

"Just let me know. She'd like the company, I think." Logan shrugged, and it was a jerky motion that had Veronica narrowing her eyes. Aaron had almost certainly left his son with a goodbye "present."

Veronica raised an eyebrow at Meg, who smiled. "I'll ask my dad."

"And so will I."

* * *

Thirty minutes later, Veronica parked her SUV in its usual spot. Lizzie was quick to jump out and head for her friends, and Meg, Logan, and Veronica headed into the building together at a more sedate pace.

"It was great having you stay over last night, Veronica," Meg said with a soft smile.

"Thanks for having me," Veronica replied. "And hey, you ever decide you wanna help me out with my business instead of babysitting, let me know, okay?"

"Sure. And I'll text you what my dad says about the weekend."

One of the other girls on the cheerleading team called out Meg's name, so the other girl excused herself and went to talk to her friend. Veronica slowed down so Logan could walk on without her, but he kept pace with her.

"What are you doing?"

"Walking into school with you. I'd offer to carry your books, but you might accuse me of being unfeminist."

Veronica rolled her eyes. "We're not friends again. Not yet," she muttered, reminding him of the narrative they'd plotted out. "You're begrudgingly keeping peace with me because Aaron wouldn't be happy if you didn't."

"And who's to say he doesn't have spies among the populace?" he asked, waving an expansive hand to indicate the school grounds.

Veronica just glared at him. "Shoo, fly," she said, flapping a hand at him. He offered her a mocking bow, holding out a hand to indicate she should go ahead of him. She rolled her eyes and trotted forward, putting some distance between them.

Of course, that just meant Troy Vandegraff would take that as an opportunity to swoop in and lay on the charm. "Veronica Mars," he said, eyes twinkling appreciatively. The grin on his face made him look like a creature out of a Dr. Seuss book. It was not something that inspired trust, but she doubted he realized that.

"That's my name. Yours is Troy Vandegraff. What of it?"

"Snippy this morning, aren't we?"

She wished she could show him snippy. "You know how the song goes. It's just another manic Monday."

"All the more reason to have something to look forward to."

"What's that supposed to mean?"

"Guess what I'm doing this weekend."

"I'm guessing it involves autoeroticism."

Troy smirked. "Close. I will be cruising the marina in my dad's Sabre 386. That's a luxury sailboat. You know, wind through my hair, Strokes blasting through the speakers, and, with any luck, a wide-eyed, impressionable vixen by my side."

"Impressionable, me? Ha."

He stopped her with a hand pressed against the books she carried. Had her arms been empty, he would've been pushing against her breasts. "Wo-wo-wo-whoa. I said 'impressionable.' Not-not you. You know, you might want to check your ego at the door there, missy." He shook his head theatrically then made to leave.

Veronica smirked. Counted off in her head. Three, two, one. On cue, he glanced back at her, smiling at her in an approximation of charm. She fixed her smile into something less condescending.

She put on a show of watching him leave, then headed in the direction of her locker. Two boys ran past her, the second knocking her books out of her arms and calling out an insincere "sorry" before rushing on.

"Thanks, man," she deadpanned, then knelt to pick up the scattered files that had fallen out of her binder. Orange flitted at the edge of her vision, then Logan knelt down beside her and helped her gather her things.

"Now can I carry your books?" he asked. "It's only gentlemanly of me to do so."

She snorted. "Go away, Logan."

"Alas, parting is such sweet sorrow."

"Whatever you say, Romeo."

Still, she was grinning when she got to her locker. Wallace was fixing the contents of his own locker when he called out a greeting.

"What's up, supafly?"

"Nothing. I could use a weekend from my weekend, though."

"Ain't that always the way."

She smiled and turned to her locker, unlocking it and reminding herself not to brace herself for Lilly's surprise. And surprise it was, as the moment the lock popped off, the door swung open and a veritable flood of colorful condom packets and jelly dildos rained down on her.

Veronica made a show of yelping, viciously squelched down the urge to laugh, and schooled her features into a look of dismay.

"Ms. Mars."

Because of course Vice Principal Clemmons would be standing right behind her just at this moment. She pasted a blatantly fake bright smile on her face and turned. "Hey, Mr. C."

"It seems you've got quite a collection of sex paraphernalia there."

"You don't say."

"You are aware, are you not, that this is a violation of school code—"

"Seeing as Madison Sinclair is still on suspension, I think we can agree that I am aware." She pursed her lips. "Just as I'm sure we can agree that it's clear I wasn't the one who filled my locker with this stuff."

"We cannot all be the offspring of one of the country's leading investigators. However, you will still need to come with me."

She put on a show of complaining, slamming her locker door shut, then stomping after him, leaving the rubbers and toys on the floor behind her. She followed him all the way into his office, where he ushered her in then shut the door before taking his seat.

She sat in the seat across the desk from him and glared. "They're not mine."

He raised his eyebrows. "I'm certainly hearing that quite a bit this school year, and it's barely begun."

"It was obviously a prank."

He sighed. "Veronica, I wasn't born yesterday."

"So why did you call me in here?"

"I'm… concerned."

"About what?" She narrowed her eyes at him.

"Much as I'm sure you would like to imagine we members of the faculty remain oblivious of what's going on with our students, I'm aware that you, Lilly Kane, and Logan Echolls have had a falling out following Lilly and Logan's breakup."

 _Huh_. "What does that have to do with the price of lasagna in Los Angeles?"

"Uh, nothing, I imagine. But I just wanted to let you know that if you need to talk to someone, I or perhaps the guidance counselor—"

"Yeah, I'm not talking to Ms. James about my feelings." _Or you_. She managed not to snort at the thought, but only just.

"Uh, be that as it may—"

"I'm fine, Mr. C. I've got a purpose in life, my grades are good, I'm making new friends. I've told my former friends that I prefer to stand by my principles and won't let them walk all over me, and they can either adjust to my new way of doing things or we can part ways and be…less than friends, from here on out." She crossed her arms and smirked at him. "If said friends didn't have last names like Kane and Echolls, I doubt we'd still be talking about this."

"Why did I ever think you were the sweet one?"

"I don't know, Mr. C. Why did you?"

The vice principal's lips compressed into a line. A less keen observer of the human condition might think he was annoyed, but Veronica recognized the glint in his eye for something else. Thoughtfulness, and a surprising amount of calculation. "You've never really been Lilly and Logan's little lackey, have you?"

Veronica adopted her best innocent look, tossed in a head tilt just because. Overplayed her hand a little, because wasn't this an interesting development? She wondered what he wanted. "I'm sure I don't know what you're talking about, Mr. C."

"Uh huh. Well, I can say one thing, Veronica Mars. I anticipate the next two years before you graduate will be many things, but boring won't be one of them."

She smiled widely. "I'm flattered you think so." She put on a show of checking the time. "Can I go now? I've only got a few minutes before class, and I've got to get my books out of my locker—assuming they're still in there, given how stuffed it was with the… er… contraband."

He smirked. "I'll have someone clean it up. Get to class, Ms. Mars. And try not to get into any more trouble today."

She stood, but stopped to give him a shocked "who me?" expression. He just smirked and waved her out.

She found the corridors of Neptune High busy with students who were straddling the tardy line. She headed back toward her locker, but saw Lilly watching her as she passed. She stopped, turned, stalked toward her older sister.

"Nice little prank you pulled there, Lilly," she said, mock-seething.

"Why, Veronica Mars, I have no idea what you're talking about!" Lilly batted her lashes at her, green eyes twinkling with laughter. "And I had _no_ idea you had such propensities! Oh, if only I had known this before!"

Veronica smirked. "Yes, well, I learned from the best, didn't I?" She didn't let herself react when she heard the 09er girls huddled behind Lilly gasp in shock.

Lilly's eyes were almost manic with humor and delight. "You sure did," she said, her voice purring. "Why, we could have had _so_ much fun, Ronica."

Now the 09er boys were hooting. If there was one thing Veronica could say about the fabulous Lilly Kane, it was that she sure knew how to put on a show. Well, Veronica knew a thing or two about that as well.

"We still could, Lilly-belle. If only I could take the stick out of your ass and beat you with it. But then again, you'd like that, wouldn't you? And you know what else?" Smiling, she stepped in close. Leaned in closer. Murmured, "Good job, now look at me like I just said something really dirty." Lilly complied and Veronica smiled, her mouth sharp and full of teeth, her eyes steady. Aloud, she said, "You know what it will take, Lilly Kane."

Then she pulled away. Walked back toward her locker. Ignored the furious whispering on either side of the corridor.

"Come back here and play with me, Veronica Mars!" Lilly's voice sang out, lilting with laughter and that siren call that had briefly entranced Logan, that still fascinated 90 percent of the male population of Neptune High, not to mention a hefty percent of the female too.

She stopped, but didn't bother to turn. "I'm not a dog you can call to heel, Lilly. Not any more. You want me back, you come to me." Then she turned the corner, went up to her locker, stepped over the small pile of dildos, butt plugs, and condoms. She ignored the whispers and the stares as she pulled her books out and headed to her first class. English, with Ms. Mills, as it happened.

At the door, she ran into a tall figure. Casey. "Woah there, Veronica."

She smirked. "I just told off Lilly Kane for treating me like a dog, Casey. I'm not about to have you treat me like a horse."

He raised his hands in a gesture of surrender, but he was grinning. "Sorry, I swear I didn't mean it that way."

"Well, I'm glad I ran into you, if a little bit more literally than I'd intended. I've got a couple of poems I might feel ready to show you. Want to grab lunch with my friend Wallace and me?"

"Sure, I'll find you. I'll even buy."

"Pizza? I've got leftover Pirate Points from last year."

He smirked. "So have I. _And_ new points from this year. My treat. You can catch me up on the life and times of Veronica Mars."

"Only if you catch me up on the same for Casey Gant. And maybe tell me more about your Moonbeam Cooperative."

"Moon Calf Collective."

"Yeah. That." The bell rang, and they bid hasty goodbyes. Veronica slunk into a seat in the second to the last row. And realized Cindy "Mac" Mackenzie AKA the real Madison Sinclair was sitting right next to her. She shot the girl a smile. It was shyly returned. She stuck her hand out. "Veronica Mars."

"I know. Mac Mackenzie." They shook hands.

"I know. We've been classmates since first grade, I'm pretty sure."

The other girl smirked. "Kindergarten, actually."

"Anything you ladies would like to share with the class?"

"No, Ms. Mills," they chorused. Exchanging quick smiles, they faced forward. And when the English teacher explained that they would have to break up into pairs for a project, Veronica raised her eyebrow at the girl with the blue streaks in her hair. Mac nodded and smiled.

Veronica suppressed the urge to grin. It might be a manic Monday, but the universe sure was bending over backward to make sure things went her way. Maybe it was a sign or something.

* * *

The morning passed quickly, and it seemed as if just minutes had passed before it was lunchtime. Veronica had texted Wallace to tell him they'd be getting a free midday meal today and she had invited Mac to join them, unfazed when she'd learned the other girl was a vegan. She'd sent Casey a message to add an option the other girl could eat, then half-led, half-dragged Mac to her now customary table, where both Wallace and Casey were waiting for her.

The boys, it seemed, had bonded over a discussion of video games, something Mac jumped into with ease. As gaming was something Veronica considered herself passable at, but lacked the passion for true proficiency, she just sat back and enjoyed the sound of her new friends' chatter.

When the food arrived, everybody offered to pay, but Casey would hear none of it, whipping out a black Amex before anyone could throw cash at him. "If I pay for it, and we don't get in trouble for having outside food delivered to the school As the new editor of the LitMag, I've got a surplus of Pirate Points," the tall boy explained.

"Well then, thank you, kind sir."

As they ate, they found themselves having to explain the Pirate Points system to the new kid.

"So they're like gold stars for participating in school activities?" Wallace asked.

"Specific school activities, like pep squad or cheerleading, varsity sports, and being an officer of some of the clubs. If you're not active in any of the above, however, you can have friends transfer Pirate Points to you. Case in point, Logan Echolls." She gestured to where the boy in question was signing for what looked sandwiches from the new gourmet deli downtown.

"Well, then, rest assured that when I get my own Pirate Points, you guys will be the first to reap the benefits!"

"And how are you going to earn those points, Office Aide?" Veronica asked, amused.

"I thought I'd try out for the basketball team."

Veronica frowned. "Wallace… I hate to break it to you, but from one vertically challenged individual to another, you just ain't got the inches, my friend."

He rolled his eyes. "Well, that tells me how much you know about B-ball, V."

"I'll admit, my knowledge is next to negligible."

"How negligible is negligible?"

She winced. "Let's just say, everything I know about basketball, I learned from _Space Jam_."

This had the rest of the occupants at the table snickering, and then laughing.

And suddenly, it was like the quad had gotten quiet. Veronica looked around and found all eyes on her table. Logan, Lilly, and Duncan in particular were all glaring at their little group. She raised her eyebrow at them, smirked, then asked Casey for the last slice of pizza.

Just like that, the noise resumed. A little louder than it had been, actually, as if the rest of Neptune High was desperate to cover up the fact that for a brief moment, persona-non-grata Veronica Mars and her small band of misfits had been the center of everyone's attention.

"Uh, Veronica? What just happened?" Mac asked nervously.

Casey smirked. "Accidental power play." Veronica glanced up at him sharply. He lifted his hands in a helpless gesture. "I'm out of the game. Or I _was_ , before this. Doesn't mean I don't still know how to play."

"I'm with Mac on this one," Wallace said. "I have no clue what that was all about."

Casey grinned. "Well then, gather, my new friends, and let me tell you a little story. It's called 'The Tale of the Fabulous Foursome.'" Veronica grimaced at him, which only made him grin wider. "Once upon a time in Neptune High, there was a small group of princes and princesses who reigned supreme. There was Prince Logan, Prince Duncan, Princess Lilly, and Princess Veronica."

The "princess" in question groaned and buried her face in her arms, which she'd laid on the table in front of her. "I hate you, Casey Gant. You are such an asshole."

"Aww, but you're my new lit buddy, pal of mine."

Without raising her head, she gave him the finger. He laughed.

"Go on," Mac said. "I want to hear all the gory details before the bell rings for next period."

The story Casey wove followed Veronica's planned narrative almost precisely, though she was a little surprised at how on point some of Casey's insights about their fellow 09ers were.

"So you're kind of like a one-woman rebellion, supafly?" Wallace asked when Casey had wound down.

"I just wanna be me," Veronica said plaintively, making the other three laugh.

Casey reached over and patted her on the head. "There, there, Veronica. You're our rebel with a cause, you know."

"Oh, bite me."

"So, not to refute anything you've just explained—or not explained, in Veronica's case—but I still don't understand why the whole lunch area went silent when we started laughing," Mac said, brow furrowed.

"It's the new regime," Casey pronounced. "Veronica has been cast out. I've exiled myself. Mac hasn't made her mark on the school despite being a born and bred Neptunian. And Wallace is the new kid who pissed off the PCHers on his first day of school. Yet here we sit, at the center table—"

"It's the table no one wants, because it isn't close enough to a wall to gain some shade and doesn't come with an umbrella," Veronica interjected testily, though she could see where Casey was going with this and was secretly pleased at his assessment.

"Yet here we sit," Casey continued as if she hadn't said anything, "uncaring of our status as social pariahs. Daring to laugh while the lords and ladies of 09erdom glare. It's a new power play in the generally unchanging landscape of Neptune High."

"This is so complicated," Wallace complained. "Back home you were a cool kid or a not-cool kid. There was none of these… politics."

"Welcome to Gotham, Wallace Fennel," Veronica said with a grin. "I'm a Batman in need of a Robin."

Casey started humming, and it took Veronica a while to identify the tune. It was "Do You Hear the People Sing?" from _Les Mis_ _érables_. She only knew it because Lynn Echolls was a major musical buff, and the actress tended to play show tunes at full volume whenever she was home and Aaron wasn't.

Veronica rolled her eyes and reached over to slap him lightly over the head. Unfortunately, it was a very long way up to reach, and she ended up cuffing him in the ear instead. He yelped good naturedly and smiled at her. She found herself smiling back.

"As lunch hour is almost over, I should get to the point of my being here in the first place—I seem to recall you promising me a poem or two," Casey said.

"Yep, I've got them here," Veronica said.

She put on a show of pulling her binder out of her messenger bag and pulling the pages with the poems on them out. She refused to show them to Mac and Wallace, folding them so the others at the table wouldn't be able to see the words. Casey accepted them solemnly and tucked them into his notebook.

"For your eyes only," she said.

"I will protect them with my life," the senior assured her, with all the gravitas of a Catholic priest saying high mass. "Only I or our all-powerful faculty advisor will see this, with your permission. At least until you're ready to share it with the world, via our humble magazine."

She chuckled. "Thanks, Casey."

"So," Wallace said, losing interest when he saw Veronica and Casey weren't about to share the poems with the rest of them, "what's this about exile?"

Veronica could have kissed him for introducing the subject. "Yeah, Casey. Spill. What's this I hear about you selling your Porsche and giving it to Charlie Manson?"

Casey laughed. "You of all people should know not to take what you hear as gospel, Veronica."

"Maybe I do. But I haven't heard your side of things."

He shrugged. "The folks at the Collective are doing good work. They needed cash for an investment that's sure to pay off in a few months, and I had the means to give it to them. End of story."

"But you loved that car."

"There are more important things than money."

Mac was staring at him, mouth agape. "You really have changed a lot," she muttered after a while. She looked at Veronica. "You too."

Wallace tilted his head. "What were they like before?"

Mac pointed at Casey. "This guy used to give Logan Echolls a run for his money as jackass of the week." She pointed at Veronica. "This one never seemed to meet a pastel color she didn't like, although she was really, really partial to pink. And she took every word from Lilly Kane's golden lips like a religious experience."

Veronica frowned. "Hey. I wasn't that bad."

"You kind of were," Casey replied.

"I don't know why you guys are even here. You all suck. Except possibly Wallace."

"Uh, thanks, supafly?"

"Besides," Casey said cheerfully. "It was clear you were in need of new friends. And presto, you've got the three of us."

Veronica raised her eyes to the sky. "Lord, deliver me."

As if on cue, the bell rang.

"Neat trick," Casey said, getting up. Or rather, unfolding himself from the bench. "Same time tomorrow?"

Veronica smirked. "Same Bat-time, same Bat-channel."

"Anyone object to sandwich wraps?" the senior asked. "Don't worry, Mac, I'll get you something vegan."

The other three shook their heads, and the group dispersed. As Veronica made her way back inside the school, she felt her phone vibrate to indicate she'd received a message. And then a deluge of messages seemed to come in, because her pocket was aquiver for what seemed an inordinate amount of time.

She had a pretty good feeling she knew who was blowing her phone up. She smirked to herself. The Kanes, plus Echolls, could wait. She had a class to get to.

* * *

After school, she walked to her car to find Logan waiting by the passenger side of the vehicle. He was talking into his phone and waved when he saw her. She unlocked the doors, climbed into the drivers' seat.

He slung his bag in the back, climbed into the front seat, and shut the door. "I'm sorry, Veronica, but I'm under orders."

"Huh?"

He hit a button on his phone, and Veronica cringed at the sharp scream that came through. _"VERONICA MARS!"_

"Hey, Lilly."

" _Don't you dare 'Hey, Lilly' me, missy! When you told us the plan, you said we were gonna break up as a group, then get back together. You didn't say ANYTHING about replacing us as the Fab Four!"_

The last word ended on a wail. Veronica widened her eyes at Logan, who rolled his in return.

"I'm not replacing anybody, Lilly."

" _You aaaarrre! Don't deny it! I saw you laughing with them! What does she have that I don't, huh? Besides blue hair streaks. I can get blue hair streaks! And what the hell do you think you're doing flirting with Casey Gant, Ronica? And Duncan doesn't appreciate you replacing him with a version who is cooler than his white bread ass."_

"Hey!" Duncan yelped. "Why are you bringing me into this?"

" _Stand up for our rights, Donut! Our sister is abandoning us! Don't you love her? Doesn't she love us? Doesn't she love meeeeeeee?"_

Veronica was staring at the phone Logan held out, the SUV still parked. Suddenly the device started shaking, and she looked up to see Logan silently laughing.

"Lilly, I do love you."

" _You don't, Ronica. You won't even let me hang out with you anymore."_

"Lilly, the narrative we've created—"

" _Aww, fuck the narrative, Ronica. I miss my best friend! I miss my sister! That blue-haired skank isn't stealing you away from me."_

"Mac is not a skank."

" _Don't you dare defend her! She's a sister-stealing skank!"_

Logan tugged on her arm with the hand that wasn't holding his phone. Then he dropped the phone into her hand, and leaned forward on the dashboard, shoulders shaking uncontrollably.

Useless. He was completely useless, was what he was right now.

Veronica sighed. "Lil—"

" _You didn't even look at my texts all afternoon! Not even when I used Duncan's phone! No, Duncan, I will not calm down! You just shut up and drive this stupid car! If you crash it and kill us, I will kill you!"_

Logan had leaned back and was wiping tears from his eyes, but this seemed to spark another bout of silent laughter.

Veronica glared at him, still clutching his phone.

It only seemed to make him laugh harder.

" _Veronica Mars!"_

"Lilly Kane," Veronica replied cautiously.

" _I've had it with the freaking narrative. We are making up!"_

She'd already worked out a few quick scenarios in her head. "Give me until the end of the week."

" _What? No! By the end of the week those three wannabe Fab Fourians will have stuck to you like barnacles!"_

"But I—"

" _BARNACLES, Veronica!"_

She sighed. "Fine. Give me until Thursday. I have a plan. It involves pranking the 09er skank army. You included."

" _And then we'll make up? Publicly? And I can tell Shelly and Madison to stick it where the sun don't shine?"_

"Yes, Lilly."

" _Thursday. And not a day later."_

"Yes."

" _Promise me, Ronica!"_

Veronica sighed. "I promise, Lilly."

" _Swear it on… Swear it on your left boob."_

She goggled. "Say what?"

" _Put your right hand on your left boob, and swear it. Say 'I swear I will make up with Lilly Kane in public, or may my boob deflate like a popped balloon.'"_

Logan made a sound like he was dying.

" _Logan!"_

He sat up straight. "Yes, Lilly."

" _Witness it!"_

"By all means."

" _Say it, Veronica!"_

Logan waved an imperious hand. "Go on."

She let out a huge sigh, put her right hand over her breast, and said, "I swear I will make up with Lilly Kane in public."

" _Or may my boob deflate like a popped balloon."_

"Or may my boob deflate like a popped balloon. You know, my boobs aren't that big to begin with."

" _That's what'll make it more tragic if you break your promise to me."_

Veronica rolled her eyes. "I won't break my promise."

" _You better not!"_

"But you better be prepared for my revenge. I'm stepping it up, if we're pushing the time frame forward."

" _Bring it,"_ Lilly hissed. _"I can take whatever you toss at me."_

A muffled voice piped in. _"Famous last words."_

" _Shut up, Donut!"_

There was a sound of something hitting something hard, a squeal of tires. Then the call dropped off. Veronica turned wide eyes in Logan's direction. He was still quietly convulsing in laughter.

"They're fine," he gasped. "She threw the phone at him, but he probably dodged since it hit something hard instead of his head or something."

"How do you know?"

"Because it's what she does. How many times do you think I've had to replace my phone?"

"That's all been because of Lilly? I thought you said you kept forgetting they were in your pocket when you'd go surfing?"

He snickered. "That's what I told my mom so she'd replace them without telling my dad. In reality, they just never survived the wrath of Lilly Kane."

She sighed. "Well then."

"Well then, what?"

"We've got a few stops to make before I take you home."

"Do we?"

"Yep. Gotta pull the most epic prank in the history of Neptune High in three days. I'm gonna need you."

He smiled. "You've got me. Always."

* * *

AUTHOR'S NOTE: Thank you, ever and always, to the amazing Irma66 for beta reading! And for educating me on American English and cultural norms. Hope you enjoyed this chapter! Next one's up on 10 February 2019.


	16. The Moment of Truth in Your Lies

**Chapter 16: The Moment of Truth in Your Lies**

* * *

SUMMARY: Veronica and Logan lay their cards on the table.

* * *

She drove them to the hardware store and Logan obligingly carried her basket as she loaded it up with all sorts of things. Then they went to the hobby store, and she would have filled a basket there also had the items she was buying not been tiny mechanisms and model parts. With her shopping done, she drove them to her house.

"Uh, I thought you were bringing me home?" Logan asked as they got out of the car and headed for her room, bags in hand.

"Later. I texted my dad to let your parents know that you were helping me with a project. He confirmed your dad's away and asked your mom if you could stay to dinner." She gave him a smile. "Newsflash...she said yes."

His eyebrows soared. "Not that I'm not happy to stay to dinner, but you could've asked."

"You could've told," she said, ushering him into her room.

"Told?"

"Told me that your dad left you with his signature brand of assholery. Shirt off, and get on the bed." She reached for the rather bulky first aid kit she kept in the storage space in the bench at the foot of her bed, and opened it up. When he made no move to lie down, she glanced up with a scowl. "Now, Logan."

"Fine," he grumbled, then stripped off his shirt. Veronica averted her eyes from his exposed abs, then hissed in sympathy as he lay crosswise on the bed on his stomach, seeing the sloppily applied bandages on his back, which didn't cover the mottled bruises along his ribs, which had had time to darken to an ugly dark shade, their edges a study in blues and yellows.

She walked over to her mini fridge and pulled out a couple of cold packs, which she lay on the bandages to freeze the adhesive.

It would take a few minutes, so she stretched out beside him and let him cuddle her to him. Logan was a hugger, all the more so when he was in physical or emotional pain. His arm around her middle was strong and warm.

"I'm sorry," she said softly.

"Not your fault."

"I know. I'm sorry anyway. I'm sorry he's a bastard, because you deserve a dad who loves you. I'm sorry I put us on this Narrative, so neither Lilly nor I could drag you into a bathroom to see to your back earlier than this."

"Is Veronica Mars really second-guessing her own Narrative? I must mark this date on my calendar."

She snorted. "Well, don't get used to it, buster."

"I did wonder why you gave in to Lilly so quickly."

"Did you _hear_ her? Wait, I know you did, because you were laughing your ass off!"

"Well, hearing the wrath of Lilly Kane directed at someone other than myself was a novel experience. Also she made you swear on your boobs. And accused your new friends of being barnacles. And threw her phone at Duncan. While he was driving. After she'd told him to drive carefully."

She started giggling, and he chuckled with her as he shifted slightly. He couldn't hide his minute flinch though, and she wiggled out of his loose embrace, sitting up to check the cold packs. Satisfied they'd done their job, she set them aside and peeked at his face, finding his eyes closed.

"Logan?"

"Hmm?"

"I'm going to take the bandages off, okay?"

"Mmkay."

Gingerly, she took the stiffened edges of the first bandage and began to peel it off his skin. She hoped her precautions would keep the process relatively pain free, but she still heard—and felt—him take a few sharp breaths as she removed the bandages.

At the sight of the thin lines he'd covered up, she had to grip her thighs almost painfully to hold back a growl of rage. She closed her eyes and thought of all the vicious punishments she would like to inflict on one Aaron Echolls.

When she opened her eyes, she saw that he was watching her.

"Hey."

"Hey." She tried for a smile, but it wobbled.

He reached for her hand. "I'm okay."

"No, you're not," she said, her throat tight, but she waited a few moments before she pulled her hand out of his and got up off the bed. "I'm going to run you a bath."

"Veronica—"

"The hot water would be good for your bruises, and you know we need to wash those cuts before we re-apply the bandages."

He sighed. "Fine, but I can do it."

"No, you stay there. I don't want you to rip them open again when they've already closed."

She fled to the bathroom. Once there, she plugged the tub and turned on the tap, perching on the side as she took long deliberate breaths, in and out, in and out. She would dearly love the opportunity to do terrible things to Aaron Echolls. She stared at the rising water and imagined drowning the smug bastard.

But that was for later. Now there was Logan in his other room with his back black and blue where it wasn't cut up. She added some bubble bath to the water, hoping it would make him feel better. Her dad had teased her when they'd gone to the supermarket and she'd bought a bottle of Elmo bubble bath, but she knew the baby product would be gentle on the skin, and Lilly gave her more than enough of the fancier stuff for her own use. So she stocked up on the Sesame Street stuff for Logan, to make him smile. And hopefully preserve his modesty, as he wouldn't be able to reach his back to soap it. She would have to help.

A moment after she shut off the faucet, she heard a knock on the door. "Come in," she said, and saw to some relief that he was wearing swim shorts and carrying the overnight bag he'd stashed in one corner of her closet. All the Fab Four kept clothes in each other's houses, well, except for Logan's house. He didn't like them staying over, preferring to stay with them. Keith was happy to give the boys a guest room at the other end of the hall from Veronica's room, and each of them had a room at the Kanes' house. "Get in before it gets cold."

He grimaced when he put a foot in. "It's a little warm." Still, he put the second foot in and looked down dubiously.

"That's the point," she said. "The heat will help with the bruising."

"Fine." He lowered himself down, hissing at the heat of the water. "I guess you're going to boil me."

She rolled her eyes. "Don't be such a drama queen."

She walked over to the counter, opened a drawer to pull out a soft washcloth and a bottle of mild soap—antibacterial. This wasn't the first time she'd had Logan here under these circumstances; it wasn't the third or even the fifth, either. She washed her hands carefully, wet the cloth with cool water, and walked to the back of the tub to sit on the ledge.

"Lean forward."

He did. Methodically, she began cleaning the area around the wounds. She paused when he gave a soft sigh, then continued on.

Finally, she lifted the cloth from his back, satisfied the cuts were clean and unopened. "All done."

She rose and threw the cloth in the sink for rinsing later.

"Thanks."

"I'll just leave you to—"

"Stay."

He'd never asked her to stay before.

"Lo?"

"I've missed you, Ronnie."

She frowned. "You've seen me almost every day."

"But we haven't really spoken all that much. Thanks to that Narrative of yours. Catch me up?"

So she told him about her day as he soaked in the warm water. Mentioned she'd given his poems to Casey to read. He grimaced, and she laughed.

Eventually she dipped a finger in the water, noted it had cooled. She got up. "I'll leave you to shower. Come out when you're done, and I'll fix up your back for you."

He was out, shirtless but in cargo pants, a few minutes later. She took a clean towel and patted his back dry carefully before urging him to lay back down on the bed. She applied antibacterial gel on his cuts before applying new bandages to keep the wounds from chafing against his clothes.

Veronica plucked a jar of bruise balm out of the first aid kit and scooped up a liberal amount onto her fingers. She knelt beside him on the bed and began soothing it onto his purpled skin, keeping her touch light to avoid hurting him any further. He stiffened at first, then relaxed.

"Let me know if it hurts."

"Mm. Feels good."

So she carefully rubbed more of the ointment over the bruised skin. Logan seemed to be almost boneless. After a few minutes, she'd covered his visible bruises with the balm, which was made with arnica and which her martial arts trainers swore by, and recapped the jar. Then she just stared at him for a moment.

"We're going to get you away from your dad somehow," she promised.

"I know."

The way he said it, the trust in his voice, filled her insides and clawed at them simultaneously. She had… possibilities for what they might do, lines to tug, but no solid plan as of yet. He knew that. And yet he acted like her getting him out of his hellish home life was a foregone conclusion. As if she didn't fail him every time he took another beating. As if Aaron couldn't just kill him one day if he took things too far.

"You don't know that, Lo." Her voice was thick with the tears she refused to shed because she didn't have a right to them, not when she still couldn't see her way through this.

"I do." He shifted to look at her for a long moment. "Come here."

She crawled onto the bed and let him hug her. She couldn't return the favor for fear of hurting him, and she felt raw enough that she couldn't look him in the eye, so she faced away from him.

"I'm sorry, Lo."

"I've already told you that you have nothing to be sorry for," he murmured. "And even if you did, I would tell you 'bygones.'"

"I can't stand to see you hurting."

"And that's half of why I know we'll find a way to get my bastard father out of our lives. The other half? Is because Veronica Mars doesn't know how to quit when she sets a goal for herself. It's… It's one of the things I love about you."

She stiffened.

"Veronica."

She didn't answer.

"I love you. I need you to hear me on this. Even if you can't look at me when I say it."

"I… know."

He snorted. "Really? You pull out Star Wars on me?"

She twisted out of his arms, but turned to face him. She was glad her bed was wide enough that she could maintain at least some distance between them. His eyes smiled, but there was a seriousness to them too.

"I didn't mean it like that."

"How did you mean it then?"

"I—I don't know if we can, if we should, trust this." She worried at her hands, then forced herself to keep from wringing them. "Trust us."

"Why not?"

"Because we've relied on each other for so long!" she blurted out. "We—the Fab Four—have trusted each other with almost everything, we work together, we go to school together, we sometimes even sleep together."

He snorted. "I'm not sure puppy piles in the media room at our house counts as 'sleeping together.'"

"You know what I mean."

"So what's the problem? Doesn't all of that tell us that we'll be better together? We already know each other inside out. Heck, my ex-girlfriend, your _sister_ , thinks we should get together. Which is kind of weird, but, hey, I'll take the support where I can get it."

"You've had no reason to expand your circle," she says desperately. "I'm just worried that the close quarters have wired our brains into thinking the love we have each other is more than it is."

His eyes gleamed. "But you do have feelings for me. Non-platonic feelings."

She rolled her eyes. "Hasn't it been obvious?"

"Not really, no."

"Ugh!" She jumped up off the bed and started to pace back and forth.

"Veronica, stop and talk to me."

"I don't know what I feel! I'm confused. I don't know how to do be in a relationship with someone."

He sat up too. "Neither do I. But it doesn't mean I'm going to give up the chance to try to be with you. And of all the things you've figured out for all of us over the past few years, how to be my girlfriend cannot be the hardest." He smiled shyly. "I would hope that things would be easier because it's not us, choosing to be with each other rather than someone who doesn't know or understand everything that messes us up from time to time."

"Ugh!" She opened her mouth to say something more, but shut it with a click of teeth as he rose from the bed and stalked over to stand in front of her. Suddenly her vision was filled with his chest.

"Veronica—"

She held up a hand, holding him back without actually touching him (because she wasn't sure what would happened if she did now that she wasn't seeing to his injuries) and cleared her throat. "If you want to have a conversation about this, I'm going to need you to put on a shirt. Preferably not an orange one, but I'll take what I can get."

He started to say something, then appeared to think better of it and walked to where he'd dropped his bag. He pulled out a shirt and started to yank it on, but the cuts on his back must have been giving him trouble because he stopped abruptly before rolling the cloth down over his torso carefully. Finally, he came back, pushing her down to sit on the bed while he backed away a couple of feet and sat in the chair at her desk.

"Veronica. Talk me through your thought process here."

She'd had time enough to jump start her brain, at least. "Logan, I do care about you. Apart from my dad, you and Lilly and Duncan are my family. I hope you know that. And, yes. I'm… attracted to you." He started to smile at that, so she rushed on. "I just don't know if I can be open to a romantic relationship."

He frowned. "Why not?"

"Well, look at us! Look at the people we know. Can you name a set of parents who have a functional, loving relationship?"

He paused and seemed to think about what she'd said for a moment. "No," he said slowly. "I guess not."

"I don't even know what a functional, loving relationship is supposed to be like."

"Neither do I."

"So why are you so convinced this—we—can work?"

She watched him lean forward in his seat. Then he gave her a thumbs-up sign that confused her for a second before he started speaking. "One, as I've already said, I love you. And I don't love you in a way that expects you to love me back more than I already know you do. I hope you'll want to be with me, but if you don't, I can live with that, as long as I know you'll let yourself be happy if you won't let me help with making you happy."

"Well, that's only a little convoluted," she snarked, but he continued on like she hadn't spoken, uncurling his index finger.

"Two, we are not our parents. I hope—I know—we've already learned a lot about what _not_ to do from them."

Middle finger. "Three, as you have pointed out, we've spent the last two years in each other's pockets. Doesn't that tell you something? On my side, at least, the attraction has only grown stronger. And before you ask me stronger than what, let me tell you that I had a crush on you before Lilly decided to lead me on a merry chase. If I hadn't still liked you beyond all that, I might have been more torn up over the fact that Lilly Kane is so not a one-man woman."

"Logan—"

"Shh." He unfurled his ring finger. "Four, I promise that no matter what happens between us, I will always be here for you. You are never going to not be one of the most important people in my life. You are never _not_ going to be my friend."

Then he played out his hand. "And five, as I've already mentioned, you're Veronica fucking Mars. When you really want to do something, you don't let anyone or anything stop you. That includes being in a relationship—a _romantic_ relationship—with someone. I would be honored if that someone were me."

She gaped at him for a long moment. For several long moments. Patiently, he watched her staring at him.

When she finally spoke, her voice was rough. "I—I don't know, Logan. I don't know if I can do what you want. There is so much going on right now."

He smiled. "All I'm asking is that you think about it, about us. Ask yourself if you want to be with me, as my girlfriend. Because I want to be with you, as your boyfriend. I know there's a lot going on. I will help you with whatever you'll let me help with, no matter what your answer ends up being. And I'm not Lilly. I won't put you on a deadline. I'm willing to drop it for now, but I just needed to tell you how I felt. If I know I have a chance with you, I'll wait. Forever if I have to."

She glared at him. "You shouldn't have to do that, Logan! Don't be understanding when I tell you I don't know if I can be with you. You deserve someone who can love you back, unreservedly and for your whole self, instead of the occasional jackass you present to the world."

"Eh. A lack of reservations is overrated. And who's to say you can't be the girl who loves me for my whole self? You're probably the person who _knows_ my whole self. I'm not going to fool around with some other girl when I know who I want. And I'm not going to have flings when I know _what_ I want."

It took all of her courage to swallow around the lump in her throat and stomp on the butterflies flitting around her inside. "And what do you want, exactly? Other than to be my boyfriend."

"The truth?"

"The truth, Logan."

He smirked. "You can't handle the truth."

She reached over, grabbed a small stuffed toy from her bedside, and threw it at him.

"I want everything, Veronica. Everything, with you."

She closed her eyes against the raw simplicity in his voice. "I don't know if I can give you that, Logan," she murmured.

"Hey." Warm fingers cupped her face. Her eyes flew open—when had he closed the distance between them? HIs face was a scant few inches from hers, but not so close to make her think he was going to come in for a kiss. Just close enough that she couldn't not look into his eyes. "That's okay. Like I said, I'll wait. I _want_ to wait, for you to be sure. Like I am."

He pulled away, and she missed the warmth of his hands on her face. "Logan—"

"Besides," he said, his voice deceptively light, "the narrative isn't right for us yet. You still need to lead Troy on. And you can't do that if you're my girlfriend and I have the right to pound on him for looking at you wrong."

She frowned. "Logan—"

He was grinning wickedly now. "Plus, I look forward to watching Lilly and Meg Manning try their best to set us up. And I could use the time to work on your dad."

"What do you mean, 'work on my dad'?"

"You think anybody's going to be good enough for Keith Mars' little warrior princess?" He snorted. "I figure with a little finessing, I might be able to charm him into thinking I'm the best of a bad lot."

She frowned. "You shouldn't talk about yourself that way. You and my dad—you're the best men I know."

His eyebrows hiked up at that. "You don't include Duncan in that list?"

Slowly, she shook her head. "Duncan's great. But he's not a man, not yet. Not while Celeste coddles him and Jake smoothes his way at every opportunity. Someday, I think he could be. If he steps up."

"Well, thank you for that."

"I meant it."

"I know. That means a lot to me."

"I still don't have an answer for you."

"Ronnie, it's been like, ninety seconds. I can wait longer than that." He smirked. "As long as you know the ball's in your court now." He rose from the chair and walked to where they'd dropped their purchases from earlier in the afternoon. "So what do I need to do for this project you've convinced my parents I'm helping you with?"

* * *

END NOTES: Belated happy birthday to the most amazing beta reader in the fandom, Irma66! Fairly short update as I've been run ragged the past couple of weeks helping with the arrangements and supplies for a five-day wedding party, so my brain (and the rest of me) are made of so much mush right now. Hopefully the LoVe makes up for it, even if they're not together (yet)? The next update will be coming your way on 20 February 2019.


	17. To Drive and to Fight and to Dream

**Chapter 17: To Drive and to Fight and to Dream**

* * *

SUMMARY: Dinner at Casa Mars, followed by a daddy-daughter heart-to-heart.

* * *

Veronica and Logan worked on the necessary mechanisms for her prank—which Logan declared "unnecessarily complicated" while following her instructions to a tee—for the rest of the afternoon. Keith came home in the early evening, heavy bags of food in his arms.

"I hope you like Italian, Logan."

"As long as I've been friends with your daughter, sir, I imagine that if I didn't, I would've been brainwashed into it by now," Logan said as he helped the older man lay out the boxes of food.

Keith grinned. "You're a smart guy."

"Veronica would tell you I'm really more of a smart ass."

"That too."

"Dad, did you get me—"

"Manicotti? Why, yes, my doubting daughter, of course I would not have gotten Italian take out without at least one order of Veronica Mars's must-haves."

"And—"

"Lasagna's right here, Veronica," Logan said, indicating the appropriate box.

Veronica pretended not to notice Keith giving Logan a thumbs up. "What about—"

"I got us cannolis for sharing, and also tiramisu for dessert. It's in the fridge."

She huffed. "Got everything covered, huh?"

Keith smiled. "Only the best for my little Robin."

"Dad! I'm Batman!"

"Honey, we've talked about this. You can be Batman when your name's on the deed for the stately manor your batcave is in. For now, 'I am vengeance! I am the night! I am Batman!'"

Veronica erupted into giggles when Keith pulled on the hem of his coat, creating a makeshift "cape" to cover the bottom half of his face with.

After her laughter had subsided and they'd settled down to share a meal, Veronica noticed things started to get awkward. Logan, for all his talk of winning her father over, seemed to be wary of the security mogul.

"So Logan," Keith said in a tone of voice so casual Veronica knew it was anything but, "how's school been?"

"It's fine," Logan said.

"Veronica tells me you're in her journalism class."

"He is," Veronica piped up. "He and I worked on a feature about that competitive surfer who goes to our school, Bodie Chang. I'll be supplying the photos, and he'll be writing the words."

"I'll look forward to reading it."

Logan ducked his head and rubbed at the nape of his neck in embarrassment. "Uh, you don't have to do that."

"Nonsense! I've always thought you had a way with words. I look forward to seeing how you apply them to the page."

"Uh, thanks, Mr. Mars."

He smiled. "No, thank you for giving Veronica a ride to Gold Coast last week. I would have been less than pleased had my darling daughter ended up relying on a no-good so-and-so like Troy Vandegraff."

Veronica stopped eating long enough to roll her eyes. "Oh please. I could've handled him."

"Just because you could have, doesn't mean you should have to," Logan told her.

Keith pointed his fork at Logan. "What he said. Now hand over the caprese salad while I find a way not to ask what you're making in my workshop."

"Plausible deniability, Dad."

"That many moving parts usually bodes ill for whoever plans to use them."

"Gee, thanks, Dad."

"I'm just saying, honey. If I need to come up with an alibi for you, it's best if I do it knowing what I'm supposed to be covering up."

"You won't need to come up with anything, Dad. We're fine. It's harmless."

"That's what you said about the time you gave the dog the wrong kind of food."

"And yet he was perfectly fine."

"If you call 'fine' farting badly enough to raise the dead with his noxious fumes."

"Don't you listen to him, Backup," Veronica told the dog who was draped across Logan's feet under the table. "You smell like a daisy, you do."

"Not really," Logan said.

"A daisy," Veronica repeated. There was a glare in her eye that had Logan backing off.

"That wouldn't hurt his feelings."

"How do you know? Backup has a sensitive soul."

"Not _that_ sensitive, honey," Keith said. "Or he would know better than to nose through the trash at the beach."

The conversation remained light for the rest of the evening, and Logan seemed much more at ease with her father. After they'd shared dessert, Keith stood and asked Veronica to clear away the dishes while he spoke with Logan. She did, while eavesdropping, of course.

"Mr. Mars?"

"Logan, I'm entrusting you with my baby."

"Y-you are?"

"Yep." He popped the P in exactly the same way Veronica did.

"B-but we're not even—I mean, she's not—nothing's even happened."

"And nothing will. Ever."

"Huh?"

Keith dug into his pocket and pulled out a set of keys. Dangled them in front of Logan's dazed eyes until the boy held out his hand for the older man to drop them in it.

"It's a Jaguar XJ13, and in bottle green besides. Nothing—I repeat, nothing—will happen to it when you use it to drive yourself home tonight."

"Sir?"

Keith sighed. "Look, son. I am pretty sure that Veronica has already spilled the beans about her mother, at least to the four of you. Yes?" Logan nodded mutely. "Well, I would like some time to speak with my daughter about the events of yesterday and our plans for the future. So I'm entrusting you with my next most special lady. I'll ride to your place with Veronica in the morning to pick it up."

"All right."

The older man laid a hand on Logan's shoulder. Veronica saw the way Logan tensed for a split second before relaxing. She hoped her dad hadn't noticed the flinch, but she knew he probably had. Still, he didn't say anything, just slowly let go of Logan's shoulder and backed up.

"You're a good boy, Logan."

Logan smirked. "Pretty sure my dad would beg to differ on that."

"Your dad would beg to differ on the fact the sky is blue, if it meant getting another $20 million movie deal."

"Ain't that the god's honest truth."

* * *

After they'd bid Logan goodbye and listened to Keith's car leave the driveway with a surprisingly sedate growl rather than the roar the elder Mars was surely expecting, silence descended on the house.

"Why don't you help me clear the table?" Keith said after a moment.

"Sure, Dad."

Quietly, systematically, they did so. When the dishwasher was loaded and running, Keith turned to his daughter. "How are you doing?"

She shrugged one shoulder. "Okay, I guess. I mean, it's like we've spent the past few years playing the plausible deniability card with each other where Mom is concerned, and now that it's out in the open…" She sighed. "I don't know what to feel. I used to get really mad at her, but now I'm mostly sad. Is it weird that I feel kind of sorry for her?"

"Oh honey." He pulled her into a hug, laid his cheek on the top of her head. "How you feel is how you feel. There's nothing weird or wrong about it. I'm just sorry you've been holding all of this in for all this time."

She hugged him back. The knotty feeling inside her chest began to loosen; she hadn't even realized her heart had twisted and tightened until she felt it relax. "How is she? Did she say anything?"

"She's sorry," Keith said promptly. She could hear a still-simmering anger in his voice. "She wanted your forgiveness and mine."

"You're not ready to forgive her."

He pulled back enough to look her in the eye. "No, honey, I'm not. She should never have hit you like that, never put her alcohol where you might drink it."

Veronica sighed. "I know. But, well, it shocked more than hurt me. And she's still my mom."

"It doesn't mean she doesn't have to do better. That she doesn't have to make amends." He gazed at her face for a long moment. "Why don't we go to my study?"

They ended up on the couch, his arm loose over her shoulders. "I found out about Jake two years ago," she said after a while. "The four of us were at Lilly's place while Celeste and Jake were fighting."

"That long, huh? I'm sorry, kiddo."

"Not your fault, Dad."

"Veronica. It kind of is. I mean, it takes two to make a marriage work, and it takes two to mess it up."

She looked up into his eyes, frowned at the complicated emotions she couldn't quite read. "Why did you marry her? From what I understand, it's always been Jake, for her."

He sighed. "Yes, and I knew it. But I loved her once, or loved who I thought she was. And she needed me. I thought—hoped—I would be enough for her one day."

Everything stilled inside her when she realized what he was talking about. "Because of me," she said numbly. "You married her because she was pregnant with me."

"Honey—" She could see in his face when he decided not to deny it. He was a proud man, in his own way, but tonight he just seemed defeated. "Yes."

"So you know that…" She faltered. After keeping the secret so long, talking about it seemed to fill her mouth something stale and cotton-woolish. "You know that I'm not—"

"Veronica." He cupped her face in his hands, bent down so she had no choice but to meet his eyes. "You are _my_ daughter. You have been since before you took your first breath, in the maternity ward of Neptune General. It doesn't matter whose DNA you have."

She smiled at the earnestness in his voice, the steady timbre of emotions. The love on his face. Tears pooled in her eyes. "I know, Dad. I feel the same way."

He was scrutinizing her face in that way he had, when he was trying to figure out what she was thinking. "Good," he said finally, brushing at her tears when they started to fall before pulling her back into a bear hug. "You know I love you, right?"

"Yeah. Me too."

She cried for a while, but it was more catharsis than anything else. He just held her through it. After the storm had passed, she kept hugging him, feeling exhausted.

"Am I the reason why you stayed with Mom?" she asked after a while. "Were you worried she'd try to take me away?"

"Partially. Maybe when you were younger." He smiled sadly. "She was better with you then. And better at hiding things."

"I'm old enough to choose who to stay with, if you guys split up. And you know I'd choose you."

He hugged her tighter for a moment. "Thanks, honey. But there are other things now."

She frowned. "Other things like what?"

"Like your siblings. Jake, well, he isn't really great at making hard decisions, at least in his personal life. The main reason he isn't married to your mom is his parents didn't approve of her and kept pushing him to marry Celeste. Who never would've married him if she knew how he felt about Lianne."

"I thought they all went to high school together?"

"Yes, but Celeste and Jake went on to Stanford. Lianne went to UCLA. She was a student there when I met her working security at a concert. I suppose Celeste thought they had broken up after they'd all graduated from high school. She came to me when you all were kids. You were already best friends with Lilly by then. We… came to an understanding."

She didn't like where this was going. " _Celeste?_ "

"Yes." He grimaced. "Your not-quite biological stepmother is not a nice woman."

Veronica snorted. "Logan calls her an ice queen. Lilly is more of a potty mouth."

"I can imagine. Well, she pretty much let me know that if Lianne were free to be with Jake, she would take the children and half his company, if not more. He used her money to seed it when he was starting out, you know."

"No, I didn't."

"Well, now you do. And Jake, well. I believe he loves your mom. But he's not going to divorce Celeste while Lilly and Duncan are in school. If he ever does, knowing his company is at stake. And your mom doesn't really do well on her own. She's never had to. If Celeste and Jake split up, she would leave me for him without a thought. If we split up, she'd go right to him, Celeste be damned. If we split up and you stayed with me, she would pressure him to let the truth about who your biological father is to keep you with her."

"Why? She's hardly ever here for me anymore."

"She loves you, in her own way."

Veronica laughed humorlessly. "She doesn't love me more than alcohol. She doesn't love me more than she loves him."

He didn't try to deny it. Instead, he said, "She doesn't know that."

"What?"

"Your mom has good traits as well as flaws, honey. Everyone does. But one of her biggest flaws is her inability to see truths that don't match the image she has of herself. She thinks she stays married to me for your sake. She thinks she's one half of a tragic romance about star-crossed lovers. She doesn't understand how it affects you, and she doesn't think about Lilly and Duncan at all."

"I…I guess I knew that."

He smiled sadly. "You're too much my daughter not to."

"Damn straight I am." She scowled. "So you knew they were together all this time?"

He sighed. "Veronica, you need to understand, I went into this marriage with my eyes open. Your mother at least had the decency not to pretend she was in love with me, and to keep things between her and Jake discreet."

"I still don't understand why you married her in the first place."

"It's simple. She was someone who needed my help. And you needed a dad. I knew I could help her. I didn't realize until you were born and they put you in my arms that I needed you too." He gave her a lopsided smile. "For what it's worth, I have never regretted it for a minute."

"Dad." New tears filled her eyes, and his were suspiciously wet as well. "Thank you for being my dad."

"Veronica, you never have to thank me for that. Having your mom as a wife? It's not a walk in the park, but it has its advantages. But having you for a daughter? That's never been anything but a joy and a privilege." He smirked. "Even if I have to pretend I don't know half the things you get up to these days."

She gave a watery chuckle at that last bit. "Plausible deniability is the Mars way of life."

"Not always," he said. "I want us to talk more from now on, okay? And while I won't try to pry into whatever you get around to doing at school, I want you to keep me updated on anything risky you do for or with your friends. Don't tilt your head at me, young lady. You know what I'm talking about. I know you have a target on Aaron Echolls' back, but the man has some dangerous connections, and he is at least emotionally, if not physically, abusive. And I'm not convinced your new friend Meg's parents are completely on the up and up, either. So apart from plausible deniability, I'm starting a new Mars tradition: necessary honesty."

"Necessary honesty?"

"It's where you tell me what I need to know, and vice versa. And where we are both honest enough with ourselves to know what we need to share with each other." He raised her eyebrows at her, then held out a hand for her to shake. "Do we have an agreement?"

She rolled her eyes at him, but took his hand and shook it. "Yes, Daddy."

"Good. Now tell me why Logan turned thirty shades of puce when I told him I was trusting him with my baby. Is there something I should know about the two of you? Did you finally put him out of his misery and agree to be his girlfriend?"

She gaped. Flushed. Opened her mouth. Closed it again. Gaped some more. Finally uttered a strangled, "Dad!"

He rolled his eyes. "What? You think I'm blind? Not that a blind man would be able to miss the way that boy pines for you."

"Dad!"

"For what it's worth, he's the best of your prospects. I know Lianne was worried you'd one day get together with Duncan as a result of all this secrecy."

"Dad!"

"That's my name. You're starting to wear it out, saying it like that."

"Duncan? Eww!"

He chuckled. "Stop thinking about it. Tell me about Logan. Is he your boyfriend? Can I brandish my gun at him when I pick up my car tomorrow?"

"No!"

"No, I can't play the overprotective dad, or—"

"No, he's not my boyfriend!"

Keith frowned at that. "Why not? He's been smitten with you since junior high, even if he was with Lilly last year. Why, when I have never seen two people more ill-suited for each other, I will never know. And, daughter of mine, while we're being honest, I will tell you that you might fool him about your feelings, but you don't fool me."

She hugged him again, but this time it was more to bury her burning face in his shoulder than for comfort. "Dad! Stop it!"

"Veronica, I have no objections to your dating, especially if it's a guy I've known for years. Especially if it's a guy as far gone for you as Logan Echolls is." She heard his breath hitch. "Do I have to give you The Talk?"

The flush that had started to recede stained her cheeks bright red once more. "No, Dad. Please, for the love of god, do not do that. Ever."

"Oh. Well." He sounded almost as relieved as she felt. "So what's up with you and Logan? Don't tell me you don't know the boy is head over heels. I know you better than that."

She drew back, but still refused to look him in the face. "I know," she muttered.

"And are his feelings reciprocated?"

She scowled. "You know they are."

"I just wanted to make sure you knew it too. So what's the problem?"

"The problem is…" She sighed. She'd already talked to Logan. That should've been the hardest part. Why was talking to her dad even harder? "The problem is I don't know how I can be what he wants."

He frowned. "Veronica, the point is that you already _are_ what he wants. I think he's made that patently clear. The boy is hardly subtle."

"No, I know." She huffed out a breath in frustration. "I mean, I don't know how to be a girlfriend. Things are so complicated right now. And it seems like every couple I know about has problems. Huge problems."

Sighing, he hugged her again. "I guess this is one of those things I wish your mom would talk to you about."

"She's kind of part of the problem, Dad."

"I know. Well, kiddo, you'll have to settle for me, so here goes nothing." He draws back so he can watch her face. "First off, Logan might be your first love, but that doesn't mean you need to think about forever. Remember, you're sixteen years old. As the song goes, honey, you've got a lot of livin' to do."

She rolled her eyes, and he smiled at her.

"Second, you and Logan need to decide for yourselves what it means for you to be his girlfriend, not to mention what it means for him to be your boyfriend. There's no manual for it, but you've both got good heads on your shoulders, even if his tends to be hotter than yours. I trust you to know what's right for you, and I trust you to come to me when you need to. I will always be here for you, and I am always on your side. I don't see what's holding you back from being with him."

"What if we mess each other up?" she asks in a small voice.

"Honey, you're both sixteen." There was exasperation and amusement in his voice before he sobered and continued. "Messing each other up is pretty much guaranteed at any age, but especially when you're teenagers. But that's part of being in love and in a relationship. And it's my hope that you'll be mature enough to fix the messes you make. You can help him be a better man—you already do. He makes you a better person too. I would hope that allowing yourself to try to be happy with him helps you both grow into people you're proud to be."

"What if we break up?"

He rolled his eyes. "Then you break up. May I remind you again that you are both sixteen? Statistically, you're more likely to break up than not. But just because it doesn't last forever doesn't mean it's not right for you to be together, if you both love each other. And I think I know you both enough to know that you love each other a lot, so that even if you did break up, you'd still be there for him if he needed it."

"Of course I would!"

"And he'd be there for you in the exact same way."

"I know. But… with everything that's going on, it seems like such a big risk."

"Honey, one of the harsh truths in this world is that big wins only come from big risks."

She snorted. "Did you get that from a fortune cookie?"

He shrugs. "The fortune cookie of life."

"Dad! That's so cheesy."

"And you're being stubborn. Take a chance on him, honey. It doesn't have to be now, but I think you'll regret it if you let the opportunity pass you by."

"Thanks for the advice, Obi Wan Kenobi."

"You have only to take it, young padawan." He smiled. "Now go to bed. You have school tomorrow, and we'll both be out of the house earlier than usual so you can fetch your beau."

"Ohmigod, Dad, you sound like a grandma. Please stop."

"Only if you promise to think about what I said."

"I will, Dad."

"Besides, I think Lynn would have kittens if you didn't let Logan sweep you off your feet at some point."

"Dad!"

* * *

The next morning, her dad didn't say anything about what they'd talked about the night before, much to Veronica's relief. She was further relieved when Logan didn't say anything about their relationship status (or lack thereof) either.

Instead they updated each other on their plans.

"I think I should try and see what Troy's got up his sleeve," she told him as they pulled into the school parking area. The car swap had taken enough time that they ran into the morning queue entering the lot.

"I thought we already knew that."

"Yeah, but why is he so pushy with me? It's not like Neptune High isn't teeming with blondes, if he has a type."

"But you're the cutest of all of them."

She wrinkled her nose at him, making him laugh. "Seriously, though, if he wants to keep a low profile, I am not the way to do it. He has to know who my dad is." When Logan stayed silent and thoughtful at that, she frowned. "What?"

"What if that's the point?"

"What do you mean?"

"What if the point is that your dad will absolutely find out about his criminal history?"

"He already has, remember?"

Logan nods. "And he's probably not the only one. If Duncan knows about it, you can bet it's not hard to dig up. His parents are probably keeping an eye on him or at least have warned him against getting in trouble in the future. So who's the one girl in the school who would absolutely never be involved with someone who does or runs drugs?"

"Me." She scowled. "I didn't see it."

"Well, that's what you have me for. You can't always be the only one to have epiphanies about people's motivations." He said this all in a pleasant tone that belied the sass in his words and the amusement on his face.

She stuck out her tongue at him. "Fine. I'll go out with him."

"Wait, what?" He sat up straight in his seat and glared at her.

"He keeps asking me out. So I'll say yes and see if he turns on the charm. He wants a beard? I can pretend to be one long enough to find out what he's up to."

"Weren't you the person who was advocating against fake dating people not too long ago?"

"That was different. That was you. This is for a case."

"I don't like it."

"Tough." Finally, she backed her car into a slot, then killed the engine. She nodded at the windshield. "Oh, look, isn't that convenient?"

They both watched Troy make his way toward her car, Logan with a scowl on his face and Veronica with a thoughtful expression. Then she grabbed her bag off the back seat and climbed out.

"Veronica, wait."

She didn't. She sensed Logan's irritation as she waited for him to climb out of her car and shut the door. She engaged the locks on her key fob, then swept past him.

She didn't have to wait long.

As she entered the school, Troy caught up to her and bumped her on the shoulder. "Fancy seeing you here," he said, smiling.

Inwardly, she rolled her eyes. Outwardly, she forced herself to look surprised, then pleased, to see him. "Morning."

"It is, and a fine one at that." He grinned. "It promises to be a fine afternoon later too."

"I suppose."

"The perfect kind of afternoon to go strolling on the boardwalk in the company of an eligible gentleman."

"Uh huh."

"Such as myself."

"If you say so."

"So how about it?"

She raised her eyebrow at him. "You do know I'm Logan's ride to and from school this week and next, don't you?"

He all but bombarded her with fake charm, putting on a show of doing a victory dance. "That's not a no."

"It's not a yes, either."

"How about you give him your keys? I'll drop you off at his place so you can pick up your car later."

"Nobody drives my baby but me."

He put on an approximation of a puppy dog look. "Awww, please?"

"No."

He huffed in annoyance. "Okay, new plan. How about I follow you to his place, then you drop off your car, and _then_ we head to the beach?"

She thought about it, then tilted her head. "No." Then, grudgingly, "But I can meet you there."

He looked up at the sky, raised his hands as in supplication, and said, "Finally, the girl comes to her senses!"

She rolled her eyes. "You can walk me to my locker if you want."

"I do want."

So she led the way. She saw Lilly and Duncan in the hallway and noticed their identical glares. Lilly put on a show of texting on her phone while glaring at Veronica. Veronica felt her own phone vibrate in her pocket, repressed the urge to roll her eyes. She felt her sister's gaze stabbing her in the back even after she'd passed them.

She wondered what Lilly was up to as she headed to her first class of the day, Troy still at her side, all but attached to her like a leech.

* * *

AUTHOR'S NOTE: Almost didn't make the post today, as I've been on bed rest for five days and just barely gotten back on my feet. The amazing Irma66 helped me smooth out the worst of the awkwardness, but any remaining mistakes are my own! Not much action in this chapter, but hope you don't mind as it paves the way for the next, which you can expect on 01 March 2019 (thanks to February's freakish shortness).


	18. That Don't Impress Me Much

**Chapter 18: That Don't Impress Me Much**

* * *

SUMMARY: Veronica goes on a "date" with Troy. Lilly to the rescue!

* * *

She didn't have time to check her phone before class started, and Lilly must have spent the entire first period texting her because her pocket kept vibrating. When she finally pulled her phone out, it was to find over 50 messages—one from Casey, two more from Logan, four from Duncan, and forty-freaking-three from Lilly.

Ignoring her big sister's flood of text for now, she checked the other messages she'd received.

 _So I heard you're going out with Troy this afternoon. Need backup?_ Logan had sent.

Then, _DK says Lilly is freaking out. She's blowing up my phone and his. I imagine yours is worse._

In response, she tapped out, _Urgh, you have no idea. And I can handle Troy. I'm just meeting him at the boardwalk. No big deal, and it's a public space. He won't try anything._

The first message from Duncan was similar to Logan's, but the next three were variations of "save me from our sister," so she told him she'd handle it.

Casey's was a simple, _Read your poems. Talk at lunch?,_ to which she replied, _OK_.

Lilly's were a full-blown rant about Troy, several iterations of and variations on _OMG I can't believe you'd do this_ , and _have you lost your mind_? Also, a few bitter messages to the effect of _this would never have happened if you were still my best friend in public_.

Veronica rolled her eyes and texted, _Calm down. I have a plan. Meet you in the bathroom before third period._

After her next class, she headed for her "office" and arrived in time to hear Lilly's sharp tones coming from inside and a trio of freshmen scrambling to leave. She waited a beat before entering and raised her eyebrows when Lilly stomped over to the door and viciously shoved the stopper under it, then turned to her and growled, "Talk."

Veronica smirked, dumped her messenger bag on the counter, and hoisted herself up so she could sit on it. "What do you want to know?"

"Don't play coy with me, Veronica Mars. One, I _invented_ coy, and two, I've had it up to here with your schemes and this fucking narrative! Why are you doing this to Logan? And why are you keeping me out of the loop?" The last bit ended on a wail, and Veronica softened when she saw the genuine distress on Lilly's face.

"I'm here to keep you _in_ the loop, aren't I? And we can make up later this week, but I have to pull off something big enough that it won't look like I'm crawling back to you."

Lilly snorted. "As if you would."

"You know that, and I know that, but Neptune High used to think I was your doormat, or have you forgotten the whole point of this drama?"

Her sister's shoulders slumped at the reminder, then green eyes sparked and Lilly straightened again. "So you're going to make _me_ crawl." Her lips formed a moue, and Veronica waited her out as she turned the notion over in her thoughts. Then she started laughing wickedly. "I can't wait to see the looks on their faces. What's the plan?"

"I think I'll leave you to be genuinely surprised by it." Veronica smirked. "Rest assured, it will be sufficiently awesome that you will have to concede defeat. And the 09er girls may be caught in the crossfire."

Lilly had a look of evil anticipation on her face. "I can't wait."

"Just remember, once it's done, _you_ have to come to _me_ and apologize publicly."

"Veronica, I would throw myself on the ground before you and kiss your feet."

"Well, no need to go that far."

Lilly snorted a laugh, then sobered. "Speaking of going far, I thought we were going to keep you _away_ from the drug lord? Not let you go on a freaking _date_ with him!"

"Please, he's hardly a drug lord. Low-level dealer and possibly his girlfriend's fall guy at best."

"Not the point, Veronica, and you know it."

She shrugged. "We need to try and figure out what he's got planned, and Logan has a hypothesis about why he's so interested in me that I wanted to check out."

Lilly's eyes narrowed. "You're not going to tell me that agreeing to go out with him was _Logan's_ idea. I am not that big of an idiot, Veronica Mars."

"No, he's not too happy about it, but he knows I can handle myself. He offered backup, but seeing as I'm ostensibly going to be dropping him off before I go to meet Troy later, that would be suspicious. We'll be at the boardwalk, so it's not like he's going to try anything right out in public like that."

"Duncan and I will be there."

"You don't need to—"

"You want me to sic the brother on you?"

Veronica smirked. "Lilly, no offense to Duncan, but I'd rather deal with his wrath than yours."

"You joke, Veronica Mars, but the one thing that fills the Donut with rage is the thought of someone messing with you or me. And maybe Meg."

Veronica looked apologetic. "I know. I didn't mean—"

"I know, sister-mine. Just don't forget we've got your back, even when we can't make it look like we do, okay?"

She hopped off the counter and pulled the other girl into a quick hug. "Thanks, Lil." Then she drew back and grimaced. "Now, we'd better get back to class."

"Go ahead," Lilly said. "I'm going to text Duncan and Logan and let them know about our plans for this afternoon."

* * *

"Veronica, can I talk to you for a sec?"

Veronica took one look at a troubled-looking Meg Manning hovering by the doors to the lunch area and waved to Wallace, indicating he should go on to lunch without her. "Sure. What's up?"

"I heard you and Troy Vandegraff are going on a date after school today."

"Eh. I said I'd meet him at the boardwalk. I'm not really sure it'll qualify as a date. But I'm surprised the Neptune High grapevine cares about something like that."

Meg smiled. "You might not be in Lilly's good graces, but it's only made people more curious about what you get up to, especially since you've made it clear you're making your own rules for how things will be from now on. And you do have friends, Veronica. I might even hope to count myself one of them."

Veronica smiled in turn. "I'd like to think so. Well, then, _friend_ , what's up?"

Meg glanced up and down the hallway, grimaced at the crowd. "Can we talk someplace more private?"

"I know just the spot." Veronica led the other girl to the first-floor bathroom. She checked to make sure the stalls were clear, then pulled the doorstop out from under the sink and shoved it under the door.

The taller blonde watched in amusement. "People have been calling this your 'office.' I guess they weren't kidding."

"Yes, well. It's convenient. So what do you need?"

"I don't need anything, not right now. I just wanted to ask you if you were serious about seeing Troy."

"I'm definitely going to meet him, but I'm not sure what you mean by 'serious.'"

Meg bit her lip. "It's just that…" She trailed off, then seemed to steel herself. "Veronica, I don't think he's a very good guy."

This had Veronica's eyebrows shooting up. "What makes you say that?"

"I don't know. It's just… He's been hanging with us at the 09er tables, and sometimes he makes comments that just seem a little off. And he gets this look in his eye when he looks at you. Or sometimes at some of the other 09ers."

 _Well, isn't this interesting?_ "What look?"

"Like he's planning something? I don't know! I just know that look, and it never results in good things for the people it's directed at."

 _Now, why would Meg of all people know something like that?_ "What do you mean?"

"Look, Veronica, I can't really explain it. Or how I know it. But will you watch yourself around him?"

"Of course," Veronica said, but she kept her voice light. "I'm sure I could handle whatever he tried, though."

Meg sighed. "I'm sure you can too. But I'm also sure I'd rather you didn't have to, and if forewarned is forearmed, well, that's just fine with me."

"Thanks, Meg. You're a good friend."

The other girl smiled at that. "I'm glad you think so."

Veronica put on a show of frowning. "Wait—who are the others?"

"Pardon?"

"You said he gives the same look to some of the other 09ers. Who?"

Meg chewed on her lip. "Um, Luke mostly? But Logan and Duncan sometimes too. It's like sometimes he looks at them like they're a bug he's thinking of dissecting. He does it to you most of all, though. It creeps me out."

"Yeah, it sounds kind of weird. Anyway, he's been on my case to go out for a while now. I figured if we did go out and he saw I was no kind of girlfriend material for him, he'd back off."

"I hope that's all it is."

"I'm sure it is," Veronica lied. "Now let's go to lunch, or Duncan will start patrolling the halls in search of you."

Meg chuckled. "I wish."

Veronica just smiled at that.

* * *

She was greeted enthusiastically by Wallace, Mac, and Casey. She grinned at them as she sat down and accepted a sandwich wrap from Casey.

"So what's the low-down on you dating the new kid, supafly?" Wallace asked.

Veronica shrugged. "He's persistent, I'll give him that. Figured I'd give him one opportunity to do or die."

"Isn't he friends with Duncan?" Casey asked. "I vaguely remember him hanging out with the Kanes in summers past. I think he and Caitlyn Ford had a thing."

"Did they? I can't recall. But, yeah, his dad and Jake Kane go way back. They were in the same frat or something in college? I don't remember exactly what it was."

"He's kind of a dick with non-09ers," Mac said.

"Huh. Well, that's a point against him." In addition to the thousand other points against him. "Ah, well. We shall see, won't we?"

"Bee tee dubya, you should know Ms. James asked me about you," Wallace said.

Veronica stilled, put her wrap down. "Oh?"

"Yeah. It was weird."

"Tell me."

"Woah, no need to go into interrogation mode on me, V. I was just doing my usual office aide work, minding my own business. Like you do. And then she comes up to me out of nowhere and goes, 'Wally, right?' Like I'd ever go by Wally. Anyway, she goes, 'I've heard you're friends with Veronica Mars.' And I was like, 'Yeah, she cool.' So she says, 'Tell me about her.'"

"And what did you tell her about me?"

He held up his hands in a gesture of surrender. "I didn't say nothing, really. Just mentioned how you cut me down off the flagpole that first day, and we've been cool ever since. Oh, she asked me if I knew what happened between you and the Kanes and Logan Echolls, but I said no and it wasn't my business. Then she asked if I knew anything about your home life, and I told her the same."

"Did she say why she was asking?"

"Nope."

"Hmm." Veronica frowned. Then she looked at Wallace with a speculative expression on her face, one which caused _him_ to look at her in apprehension.

"What?"

"Do you think you can get your hands on my student file?"

"I suppose I could make a copy."

She tilted her head. "Please? I'm wondering why she was asking."

"No problem, supafly."

"Thanks." She flipped her hair, made a show of grimacing. "Oh, one more favor?"

"V, I owe you big. So what do you need?"

"Can you get me Meg and Lizzie Manning's files too?"

"Princess Meg?" Mac asked. "And Lizzie-come-easy? What's there to know about them?"

"I don't know, but Meg said some things that made me wonder. Plus, Lizzie's not that bad, seriously. Their parents are really strict, so she's probably just acting out against that."

"That's unusual," Casey observed.

Mac frowned. "What is?"

"Strict parents."

Now Wallace was frowning too. "How come?"

Casey shrugged. "The Mannings are 09ers. Lax parenting is kind of an 09er way of life, you know. Except maybe for Veronica here. But I figure her dad's just paranoid cause he's got that whole super spy thing going on."

Wallace goggled at her. "Your dad is a spy?"

"No, he isn't. He runs a company."

"Only the best-ranked private investigations and security company in the country," Mac said mildly. "Seriously, we should call you baby Bond, or something."

"You try, and you'll live to regret it."

"Just Bond then?"

"I gotta say, supafly, if you really are a teenage spy, it would explain _so_ much that has confused me about you."

Veronica groaned. "Can you get me the files or not? And I prefer to call myself an investigator, thank you very much."

"Sure," Wallace said.

"Investigator or not, I'm still calling you Bond," Mac decided. "It's way cooler than Nancy."

"Nancy?" Wallace asked.

"Nancy Drew," Casey filled in. "Carolyn Keene's famous teenage detective."

"Go with Bond, V. Nancy's just a way too white-people nickname."

"Only if Mac agrees to be my Q," Veronica said.

"Oh? What would Q-ing entail?"

"Tech and gadget support?" She gave the other girl a hopeful look. "I'm okay with like hardware—"

Wallace started coughing. "Cock bong," he said between cough-snickers. Casey gave him a high five.

"As I was saying," Veronica continued, ignoring him, "I'm okay with hardware, but I'm no good at the software stuff. Hacking, programming, whatever. I might need it for my little side business."

Mac frowned. "That PI service? How's that going?"

"Mmmhmm. And not bad. I'm willing to pay in cash or favors of the non-sexual kind. So far most of the cases I've been working are just find-out-if-your-jock-boyfriend-is-cheating-on-you stuff, but Aaron Echolls asked me to find out the real story about the contraband found in Logan's locker." Her three lunch companions gaped at her. "What? My dad suggested it. Logan says the drugs aren't his. Aaron is inclined to believe him, but wants proof. Something about too many Hollywood kids succumbing to the pressures of fame, or whatever."

Casey shook his head. "Poor Logan."

"What do you mean, poor Logan?" Wallace frowned. "His dad's a movie star. He got caught with suspicious-looking contraband in his locker and all he got was his car privileges taken away—and his dad got Veronica to drive him around. If I'd been caught with drugs—"

"Alleged drugs," Veronica corrected him.

"Whatever. If I was caught with those in my locker, my mom wouldn't let me out of the house except to go to school until I got into college."

"I don't know," Mac said, "it just sounds like Mr. Echolls was giving Logan the benefit of the doubt. I would hope my parents would do the same, maybe withhold punishment until proven guilty."

"It reeks of PR, is all I'm saying," Casey said. "Take it from me. Most 09er parents don't much care about what we get up to, as long as their bottom line stays solid and we don't embarrass them in front of their friends. Aaron Echolls has his adoring public to consider on top of that."

There was a tightness to his face and a bitterness in his voice that Veronica thought had less to do with Logan and possibly more to do with Casey's own relationship with his parents. It was something to think about, anyhow.

Wallace shrugged. "I'm just saying, it doesn't seem like punishment. In fact, considering it's Veronica driving him around, I'd say it's more like reward. Boy's got it bad for V here."

Veronica rolled her eyes at him. "He just broke up with Lilly."

"Yeah, weeks ago. In high school time, that's like months, supafly!"

She was saved from having to reply by the ringing of the bell. Everyone stood and started clearing the lunch table.

"Hey, Veronica, can I talk to you for a sec?" Casey asked.

"Sure." They waved off the other two. Veronica pointedly ignored the curious looks from the 09ers. "What's up?"

He frowned a little. "I read your poem. It's…not what I would've expected from you." He gave her a concerned look. "I just wanted to know if you wanted to, uh, talk about it or something."

Veronica avoided his gaze. "Not really."

"Look, Veronica, I know we haven't really been great friends in the past. Most of that's probably my fault, as I was exactly as dickish as Mac said I was, before I joined the Collective."

She shrugged awkwardly. "It's not that. I'm just… not really all that much of a talker. Especially about, you know, feelings and stuff. I was kind of hoping to talk to you about those poems, actually. If I could submit it anonymously."

"I'm sure Ms. Mills wouldn't have a problem with that. That is, if I'm allowed to show them to her?"

"Sure. Just her though?"

"Of course." He paused. "You know, maybe you should come with me to talk to her. She spends a lot of time at the Moon Calf Collective too. In fact, she's the one who told me about them. They helped me a lot. Maybe they can help you too."

"I don't know, Casey—"

"Look, no pressure, okay? But there are some pretty great people in the Collective, and I think I know how it feels to have a lot of anger for people in your life that you can't really talk about to anyone else. I probably would've been a wreck this year, if it weren't for them. So I just want to, I don't know. Pay it forward."

She pursed her lips. Now she _really_ wanted to figure out what was up with this group. Cult. Whatever. But it wouldn't do to seem too eager. "I've got a lot of stuff going on right now, Casey. I really appreciate the, uh, invitation, but I don't think joining yet another club, and one that isn't even in school, is the answer for me."

"At least keep in mind that the invitation's open. I'm sure Miss Mills would say the same."

She smiled at him. He was earnest in his desire to help, and it really was sweet of him. She resolved not to forget that, even if she found out later that the Collective had pretty much brainwashed him. "Thanks, Casey. I'll remember that."

"That's all I ask." He smiled and held his arm out gallantly. "Now, shall we head in before the tardy bell?"

"We shall." She took his arm, grinned at his exaggerated courtly manners, and ignored the whispers from the 09ers, who of course would wait until the last possible moment before heading back in to class.

* * *

When Veronica pulled up in front of Logan's house that afternoon, she was surprised to find the Casablancas brothers, Luke Haldeman, and John Embom waiting to be let in through the gate. "Looks like a party," she observed.

"Well, I figured since I'm not allowed to serve as backup on your not-date with Troy, I might as well work on another item on our agenda. Luke's primed, he thinks it's his idea to head to TJ this weekend, and he's going to try to talk me into it."

"How do you know?"

"He asked Dick and Beaver, but their dad's in town and they can't go. I got Dick to suggest he ask me."

"Do I want to know how you managed that?"

"I have my ways."

She grinned. "Yeah, you do. Dick's a good wingman."

"Yep, he is. Also, he's very relieved we seem to be getting along better. Apparently he's lived in fear of you since kindergarten, or something."

"The boy has an excellent sense of self-preservation, it seems. Even when common sense fails him."

Logan grinned. He opened his mouth to say something else, but the other car honked loudly. "Logan, dude! Are you gonna let us in or what?"

"Don't get your dick in a twist, Dick," Logan yelled back. To Veronica, he said, "Well, I guess that's my cue to head inside."

"Yep."

"Watch your six when it comes to Troy, okay?"

"Of course."

"He tries anything, rearrange his face."

"It can only improve things."

He laughed at that, then climbed out of the car. "Text me when you get home."

"Will do," she said and with a jaunty wave, drove off.

Troy was waiting for her at the fish-and-chips shack along the boardwalk. "I took the liberty of ordering for both of us. Got the cod and the halibut. You can take whichever you prefer."

"I'll take the cod and a Skist."

He smiled. "As milady wishes." He claimed their drinks and the baskets of fish and fries from the pickup counter and led the way to a picnic table.

As they sat down, he proceeded to bombard her with what she supposed was his idea of a charm offensive. He told her stories of his life back east (she noticed he didn't mention his girlfriend at all) and a few idyllic tales of his summers in Neptune.

He mentioned one about a fake shark sighting; Veronica remembered the incident, and the fact that she and Lilly had decided to prank the guy. She wondered if she should interrupt the practiced humor in his storytelling to let him know that she knew exactly what happened because she'd been there. He just hadn't seen her because she'd been in charge of distracting the lifeguard, and then working the guy into a panic so he'd threaten to shoot the "shark."

He made an effort to ask her about her life, hobbies, and so on, but obviously such consideration didn't come naturally to him, as he was easily brushed off with evasive responses. And when prompted to talk about himself, he never failed to take the bait. After an hour and a half, she was fighting the urge to yawn and regretting the fact that she hadn't asked Mac or Meg to call and give her an excuse to ditch him.

She was mentally turning cartwheels when he stood and asked if she'd like to go for a walk. She started to clear their picnic table, but he said she should just leave it for the staff and dragged her off. After that, it was a struggle to keep a frown off her face. It was also quite difficult not to turn to where she knew Lilly and Duncan were following a discreet distance behind them and ask them, _Can you believe this guy?_

"My dad's gonna want me home soon," she said finally, steering him in the direction of the parking lot.

"I guess he keeps pretty close tabs on you."

Veronica shrugged. "I guess."

"Hey, let me see your phone?"

She raised an eyebrow at him, but she'd been expecting this, and handed him a burner phone that looked exactly like hers. She'd even gone to the trouble of replicating the lock screen photo. He tapped out a few things on it as they walked.

"What are you doing?"

He grinned at her. "It is now booty-call enabled."

She had such a hard time keeping herself from rolling her eyes at him that she could swear she could feel a headache coming on. "In case I need a little late-night action?"

"Action, investment advice, whatever." As they got to her car, he shot her another smarmy-charmy smile, then handed her the phone. As she took it, he stepped closer. "So—"

"I should really get home," she said, smiling to cover her grimace as she backed up half a step.

"Why don't I see you there safely?"

"That's all right. Normally I'd be happy to accept such chivalry, but it's a school night and my dad owns a handgun. He says he can look into a guy's eyes and tell his true intentions, which I know sounds like a myth, but I—"

He leaned down to kiss her.

She flinched away, although fortunately he didn't notice because it was in the same instant Lilly dumped a gigantic grape slushy over the both of them. Well, over Troy mostly.

"Ohmigod, Troy! I'm so sorry about that! I was aiming for that trash can over there." She pointed to the bin some distance away. It was an obvious lie, but she glared at Veronica as she said it, so it was plausible to think she was covering up nefarious intentions. Only Veronica knew she'd hit her target all along. "I'm pretty sure Duncan has a towel in the car, if you'll let me help you out with that!"

"Ah, no, it's fine," he said, though his jaw was clenched and his eyes hard. Then his expression cleared and he offered Veronica a patently false smile. "Okay then, I guess it's not my night." He put on a show of offering her a hand to shake, then bowed before her in a pseudo-courtly gesture. "And a good night to you, milady."

She rolled her eyes. "Better take Lilly up on that offer of a towel. See you at school tomorrow."

He was still dripping icy grape soda. Veronica stomped down hard on the urge to giggle, but it was a near thing. She hastily climbed into her car and, waving, drove away.

Once she'd cleared some distance between her and the parking lot, she pulled over to text her sister and best friend. _Thanks for the save, Lil. It was perfect._

Not twenty seconds later, her phone beeped to indicate she had a new message. _Of course it was._

Cherishing the memory of Troy's face as he was doused in purple slushy, she found herself chuckling all the way home.

Once there, she texted Logan to let him know nothing much had happened on her not-date, apart from Lilly's intervention. She also told him she suspected his thoughts about Troy's intentions in pursuing her had probably been spot on.

In turn, he told her Luke had taken the bait—hook, line, and sinker. The baseball jock had been dismayed to learn Logan was without a car for the weekend, but when Logan offered to pay for gas and their hotel rooms, Luke had cheered up. With some prompting from Logan, the other boy had had the notion that he ought to ask one of the other guys to play designated driver on the trip and Logan had subtly pointed him in Troy's direction.

 _Thanks,_ Veronica had told him when he'd informed her of what had gone down. _Now all you have to do is convince Troy he wants to drive you there._

* * *

AUTHOR'S NOTE: Thanks, as always, to the awesome Irma66 for beta reading! Next update: 10 March 2019.


	19. Just Peel Out the Watchword

**Chapter 19: Just Peel Out the Watchword**

* * *

SUMMARY: Veronica pranks Lilly but good. Logan helps.

* * *

Logan climbed into the passenger seat of her car with a groan. "Veronica, roosters don't wake up this early."

She handed him a large to-go cup of freshly brewed coffee, and he took it gratefully. "It's not _that_ early, Lo. I know for a fact you routinely get up earlier to surf."

"That's surfing. This is school. And 6 AM is an ungodly hour to be picking me up for it."

"I need to set up my prank on Lilly and the skank army. And I need your help to do it."

He sat up, put on a show of taking out his phone to tap out some things on his calendar. "I must make a note of the date! It's not every day Veronica Mars tells someone she needs them."

She punched his arm playfully. "Don't be an asshole."

He gave her an exaggerated _Who, me?_ expression. When she stared at him balefully, he relented. "All right. What is it exactly that we are doing?"

"I'm gonna make the 09er table look like a crayon monster puked out its guts on the girls." She reached behind her, pulled out a plastic container that held a couple of smoked-salmon-and-cream-cheese bagel sandwiches she'd made that morning because she'd been so excited about putting her plan together that she'd found herself waking up even before the crack of dawn.

"Sounds like fun," Logan said, drumming the fingertips of both hands together in a Machiavellian fashion. "I can't wait to see how Madison Sinclair reacts."

She laughed. "It's her first day back from suspension, and I thought I'd welcome her back with a bang—literally." She peeled off the lid of the plastic container. "Here, these are for you. Partial payment for helping me out today."

"Thanks." He set the container on his lap, took a sandwich out, and bit into it. "'S good!"

"You don't have to sound so surprised," she said, throwing the car into gear and pulling out of his driveway so they could head to school. "I can throw a sandwich together."

"Yeah, but we all have other people to fix food for us when we want it. It's not every day a friend makes me a sandwich, is all."

"Well, eat up. It's made with love and gratitude, and all that jazz. Plus I'm gonna make you work it off."

When he didn't reply, she took her eyes off the road long enough to glance to her side. His mouth was full, and his eyes were soft and schmoopy.

"Logan," she said, exasperated. She turned back to focus on the road with a vengeance. "Masticate."

It took a moment, but then she heard him swallow. "Uh," he said lamely, "it's just really good."

She shook her head, fighting a smile. "I'm glad you like it. How are things on the Luke Haldeman front?"

"Fine," he said. "It's him, Duncan, and me, but Duncan's going to look for a last-minute excuse not to go. If we get caught at the border, Celeste's head will explode. As far as Luke is concerned, we're looking for a fourth person to make up the party, but you and I both know who that's going to be, so don't accept any more 'dates' from the walking douchebag, okay?"

"You say that like I'm at all tempted to go on any more of them. And yeah, I'm sure he's sure he pulled out the stops on whatever limited reservoirs of charm he possesses. He tried to make a move, but Lilly dumped a slushy on him, supposedly because she was aiming for me and he got in the way."

Logan snickered. "Yeah, she told me about that. And Duncan sent photos."

"He just stood there and let her do it. I don't know if I should be worried or proud."

"The latter, definitely the latter. Lilly also told me I needed to step up my game because she wouldn't be able to beat the wolves back for much longer now that you have—and I quote—'revealed the hotness that is Veronica Mars.'"

"Does she think I've suddenly turned into a femme fatale?" Veronica shook her head. "That girl's ideas about me are—"

"Pretty accurate, from where I'm sitting."

She grimaced. "Don't forget we've established you're operating on a pretty heavy positive bias."

"The heaviest." Amusement threaded his voice. "But what I don't understand is why I can't take my baby out. After being cooped up all week while you're driving me around, she'll want to stretch her, uh, wheels."

"You don't want to risk getting caught driving if Luke and Troy manage to pick up illegal substances in Mexico, Logan. Something like that would go on your record, which might hit the press's radar, and I'd rather not risk giving Aaron an excuse to be an asshole, not that he needs one."

"You've got that right," he said darkly. "So what's the story we're selling?"

"You're still on driving restriction. Since Luke, like Duncan, shares his car with his sister, you'd have to postpone if you didn't rope someone else into it, so maybe tell Luke to try and butter up someone who's got a car. Nudge him in Troy's direction. Even if our junior drug dealer doesn't pick anything up for himself, he's not going to be able to resist the payload Luke will haul for his peas-for-brains personal trainer. He's going to try and get at it somehow. We just need to figure out the how."

"I suppose." She didn't have to turn her head to see him pouting; she could hear it in his voice.

"Two birds, one stone, remember? And it'll get Troy out of Neptune faster."

"Well, when you put it that way…"

She pulled into the deserted parking lot, parked the car in her usual spot. "I just did."

He huffed. "Fine."

"Good. Now, ready to help me with the power of vertical superiority?"

"So you didn't really need my help per se, just someone marginally taller than a hobbit?"

"Well, discretion and the ability to follow directions are required too."

This early in the morning, the school was completely devoid of people; even the varsity guys who had to report in for early training and the eager beavers didn't show up until about quarter to seven or so. Veronica grabbed her messenger bag from the back, as well as a small duffel bag she'd packed the night before, while Logan resealed the now-empty sandwich container and left it on the seat, grabbing his own backpack and climbing out of the vehicle.

"Let me take that," he said, nodding at the duffel bag.

"It's not heavy."

"Well, you won't let me carry your books for you, so will you really deny me this?"

She rolled her eyes. "Fine." She handed him the bag and smirked when his face showed his surprise at how light it was despite its bulk. "Just don't jostle it too much."

They made their way to the lunch area, Logan looking around curiously. "It looks so strange when there aren't any people around. Even late afternoons, there're at least few kids studying or whatever."

"You're never here early enough to see this," she teased.

When they got to the 09er tables, Logan handed her the bag. She placed it gently on one table, and opened it, pulling out six small battery operated fans she'd rigged to activate by remote control. Fastened to the front of the fans were the varicolored packets of gulal powder Logan had helped her fill two nights before.

"Since we have already established that you're tall, and I'm not—"

"You say that like it's a recent discovery."

"Ha. Ha. Ha. So funny. Anyway, once you've got the sass through your system, I'm gonna need you to climb up on these benches and affix these fans to the top of the umbrella pole." She pointed to the relevant section, held up a device. "There's a magnet on the back of this, and it should latch right on. I need you to attach them in a row all around the pole."

"You got it." He climbed up on the bench and took the first fan. It latched on quickly enough and Veronica handed him another, then another, as they went all around the table.

It took around ten minutes to attach the fans to the pole, then Logan climbed down from the bench as Veronica folded away the duffel. "What now?"

"Now I stuff this in the maintenance closet," Veronica said, holding up the duffel. She pulled an envelope out of her bag and tucked it into the folded duffel, then strode into the school. The doors were locked and she took a look around before sliding a small pouch out of a hidden pouch in her messenger bag. "Keep a lookout for any comers."

She pulled a couple of slim tools from the pouch and then proceeded to pick the locks, smiling in satisfaction when she got it open in under three minutes. She led Logan toward the janitorial closet on the first floor and picked the lock on that as well. Once inside, she switched on the light, pulled a roll of duct tape out of her bag, then got Logan to hold the duffel against the bottom of one of the shelves as she taped it to secure it. Then she took out her phone and sent a quick text to someone.

"That's—"

"How the guys pay Lucky the janitor for beer. I know. I made a new deal with him. He's gonna clean up after me."

"Huh."

"Come on, let's get out of here. I'll explain what I need you and maybe Duncan to do later."

Logan followed her out, humming nervously as she instructed him to hold first the door to the janitor closet, then the main door to the school in the right position so she could lock them again. As they headed back to her car, he mused thoughtfully, "I guess I didn't need my backpack yet."

"Nope."

"You could've said as much."

"I could have, but then people might get suspicious if we ran into anyone while we were working." She beeped her car unlocked, and they climbed inside.

"Like they wouldn't have been suspicious seeing me in school at early-ass o'clock."

"Yes, well, you could argue that I'm a positive influence in your life."

He smiled. "Always."

She drove them to a nearby fast food restaurant, where she bought them each an iced mocha and herself a cranberry-white chocolate muffin. He declined the offer of food, saying he was full from the sandwiches she'd made him. She shrugged, parked, then she had him call Lilly on speaker phone while she ate.

" _Logan! Are you with Veronica?"_

"Yep."

" _Veronica Mars! Is today the day?"_

"Today's the day I prank some 09er ass. It would be good if you picked a fight with me toward the end of lunch period—after you've eaten but before you all head back into the building for class. Tomorrow you can come crawling back to me."

" _Yay! I can't wait!"_

"I'm gonna say, don't wear anything you're particularly attached to."

" _Oooh, why not?"_

"Because what I've got planned is sure to ruin it. I'd apologize, but—"

" _I would happily sacrifice my favorite outfit for our friendship!"_

"Thanks, but there's no need. Dress normal, but not in your favorite anything."

" _Got it!"_

"I'm gonna let Logan know what he needs to do to 'save' you from my wrath, but an assist from Duncan might help, so just let him know."

" _Absolutely. I'm so excited!"_

"You might not say that when you get hit by what I've planned for you."

" _I don't even care. Even if it's itching powder."_

"Would I be that cruel?"

" _To Madison Sinclair? I hope so. The skank actually told me she thought you were trying to steal Logan away from me. As if I haven't been trying to serve him up to you on a platter for ages and ages!"_

"To be fair, Lil, Madison doesn't know that."

" _I don't care! It's my posse and I'll hate her if I want to._ "

Veronica laughed. "Bye, Lilly."

"So what do I have to do?" Logan asked. "And do I particularly want to save her from your wrath?"

"Well, I don't want people looking at the device, and you'll be saving all the girls, not necessarily Lilly."

"But will they know that?" He frowned. "I don't want anyone thinking I want to get back in her good graces, since we worked so hard to get us broken up for good."

"It's a chance we'll have to take. And if you continue to pretty much ignore her or snipe at her, any rumors your 'rescue' will stir up should go away quickly enough."

"Okay, hit me up."

She outlined her plan for him. It was simple enough, though she warned him with little regret that his olive-and-orange sweatshirt might not survive the encounter.

"You'll owe me one," he said easily.

"If I get to pick them out, I'll get you three." She spared a thought for the other monstrosities in his wardrobe and shuddered delicately.

He smirked. "How about you just buy me one when you're out shopping with my mom this weekend?"

"Sure! I asked my dad about it and he was all for the idea—I think he's got some regrets at the lack of mother-daughter bonding between my mom and me and thinks I might want an older woman to talk to."

"I'm surprised he didn't ask Becky James."

She groaned. "Don't even suggest it!"

He held up his hands in surrender. "I won't, I promise. Hey, ask Meg if she wants to come with, will you? Mom kind of likes the idea of a girls' day out."

"Sure. It'll give me a good reason to pull Meg out of 09erville at lunchtime today, save her from friendly fire."

"I'm not sure it would stick to Princess Purity anyhow."

She grinned. "I'm so telling her you called her that."

He snorted. "Go right ahead. The 09ers were talking about taking the Purity Test at lunch yesterday, and she actually said she thought abstinence was sexy."

"Purity Test?"

"Yeah, one of those online test things. You know, like the ones Lilly's always getting you to take? What's the color of your soul? Who's your celebrity soul twin? Well, this Purity Test works the same way, and gives you a score based on how pure you are."

"Oh really? And what did you get?"

" _Moi_? Who's to say I even took it?"

"Logan, please. Remember who you're talking to."

In reply, he made the "shocker" gesture and gave her a lascivious grin he'd perfected in his role as king of the 09ers. She just rolled her eyes then raised her brows at him. He shrugged. "Fifty-nine. Low enough to know what I'm doing to make you feel good, high enough to stay out of the dregs of depravity, which is anything below 50."

She laughed. "Do the results come with analysis?"

"Nah. That's all my own."

"Well, then, Mr. Not-Quite-Depraved, shall we head over to school?"

He made a snobbishly graceful "carry on" gesture with one hand. "Driver," he said in an exaggerated English accent, "take me to school!"

Snorting, she started the engine and did as ordered.

* * *

After they'd parked and headed back toward the school for the second time that morning, Veronica veered away from Logan when she spotted Meg and Lizzie getting out of their mother's car. "Hi Mrs. Manning! Hi Meg! Hi Lizzie!" she chirped.

"Hi Veronica," Mrs. Manning said in her creepy, overly warm Stepford Wife manner. "So nice to see you again."

"Hope you're having a good morning, Mrs. Manning!"

"I am, thank you."

Lizzie rolled her eyes and strode ahead into the school building, no doubt to go straight to the bathroom to roll up her knee-length skirt. "I was just talking to Logan about Saturday, Meg, and wanted to know if you were game?"

Meg frowned. "I don't know, I haven't asked my dad yet."

"Asked about what, dear?" Veronica was fascinated by the strange way Mrs. Manning's face seemed to tighten in tension yet remain completely serene to the casual viewer.

"Oh, Logan Echolls' mom asked if Veronica would like to come with her on a shopping trip to LA on Saturday."

"Yup! And she said to invite Meg too!"

"Oh, but I was going to volunteer at the church—"

"Nonsense, Megan!" Mrs. Manning let out a shrill little laugh. "I'm sure your father will be fine with it. Imagine! Lynn Echolls! Why, she's won an Oscar, hasn't she? For that wonderful movie one of our pastors mentioned in his homily just last month."

"I think so," Veronica offered cautiously.

"Well, why don't I talk to Mr. Manning?" Meg's mom said. "Don't worry, I'll remind him what good, responsible girls you both are."

Remembering what she and Logan had been up to this morning, Veronica found herself having to suppress a giggle at the idea of her being a "good" girl. "Thanks, Mrs. Manning."

"Now, you go so you won't be late for class," the older woman said, waving to them as she pulled away from the curb.

"You didn't have to do that, Veronica."

"Why not? It'll be fun! Plus I've got a side project—we're gonna pick out some clothes for Logan that aren't orange!"

Meg laughed. "Well then, I guess that could be considered an act of gracious charity."

"You bet! Come have lunch with me and the others later? We can make plans."

"Sure. I wanted to ask you about something else, too."

"Oh?"

"I need your help figuring out who my secret admirer is?"

Veronica's eyes and smile sharpened. "Oooh, a secret admirer? Tell all, Miss Meg!"

Meg opened her mouth, but was interrupted by Casey. "'Sup, Veronica?"

"Girl talk, of the kind boys aren't welcome to join, Casey."

He looked disappointed. "Important stuff?"

"Vital."

"Oh. Cause I was wondering if you wanted to go see Ms. Mills with me before class."

At that, Veronica started chewing on her bottom list, weighing the importance of her various agendas. In the end, Meg made the choice for her. "Mine's not that important, Veronica," the taller blonde said with a smile. "How about I join you for lunch like you suggested, and we can talk then?"

Veronica grinned. "Sure. And just for that, Casey here is buying, and he'll have to buy for you too."

The senior shrugged. "No problemo. Chinese good with you?"

"Absolutely."

"Cool."

Meg smiled at them both, then bid them goodbye as she headed toward her locker. Veronica didn't need to make a stop at her own locker until later, so she followed Casey to the English teacher's classroom—incidentally where her first class of the day was.

"Veronica, hi!" Ms. Mills greeted her with a warm smile on her face, something not unlike the one Mrs. Manning had attempted a few minutes before. Veronica decided the teacher was either genuine in her caring or a much, much better actress. "Come in. I'm glad Casey caught you this morning."

She shrugged. "I was headed here anyway, as I've got English first period."

"Yes, yes, of course."

Veronica crossed her arms and waited, making sure to show apprehension rather than impatience. "Can I help you with something, Ms. Mills?"

The older woman scrutinized her face for a moment, then met Casey's eyes and seemed to come to a decision. "I was actually wondering if I could help you," she said softly.

"Help me? With what?"

The corners of the woman's mouth turned down. "Casey showed me your poem last night."

Veronica frowned. Last night? Why would Casey have been with Ms. Mills last night? "I told him he could," she said, cautious now. "He said he'd ask you about publishing it anonymously."

"Yes, he mentioned that. I don't see any problem with it. Yours wouldn't be the first anonymous submission we've published."

"Thanks."

"But, Veronica, people write poetry from the heart. And there was a lot of heart in yours—in fact, I found it quite heartbreaking. I just worried that maybe you have more you'd like to share."

Veronica bit down on a smirk at the thought of getting Logan to write more poetry for her. "I don't know," she said, injecting a little nervousness into her voice. "I guess I'd have to think about it."

"Of course," Ms. Mills said with a smile. "You know, if you ever feel like sharing your work with people who understand what it's like to struggle with things you can't talk to people in your everyday life about, there's a place where you're always welcome to do so. We're kind of like family."

"Yeah, from what I've heard about your literary magazine, it seems really cool."

Ms. Mills grimaced. "Actually, I'm, uh, I'm talking about the folks out at the Moon Calf Collective. That's where I live. And Casey is there quite a bit too."

"Huh. He might've mentioned it a time or two."

"I have, actually," Casey, who'd been silent up until this point, said with a sheepish grin.

"You should urge her to come then," Ms. Mills told him. Then she turned back to Veronica. "Really, you'd be very welcome. Something tells me you'd really enjoy visiting. I-if you'd like I could even take you out there today. How's that sound?"

Veronica frowned. While she was tempted to let the English teacher lure her to cult headquarters, she knew she'd never hear the end of it from the Fab Four—or her dad—if she went along with it. So she decided to buy some time. "Um, I'm not so sure today is good," she said slowly. "There's some stuff going on at home, and my dad's a little overprotective. Maybe Friday?"

"That sounds great! And since it won't be a school night, you won't have to worry about staying longer if you find you're enjoying yourself."

"Yeah," Veronica said, then made a show of appearing nervous. "Uh, should I tell my dad where we're going?"

"I would never encourage you to lie to your father, Veronica," Ms. Mills said seriously.

 _That wasn_ _'t a no, but it wasn't a yes, either_. "Should I give him your address?"

"Oh, um. We're a bit off the beaten path, so I'm not sure the address will mean anything to him."

Veronica shrugged. "No biggie. I'll just let him know I'm out with friends."

The English teacher beamed at her. "And you will be! We can take my car, or you can follow mine in yours."

"Sure," Veronica said, smiling easily. "I can give Casey a ride home too."

"Ah, no need, Veronica. I usually stay over on weekends."

 _Interesting_. She might have prodded for more information, but just then the bell rang.

Casey stepped back. "Guess that's my cue to head to class. See you at lunch, Veronica?"

"Yep. There better be some char siu and pot stickers with my name on them!"

"You got it!"

* * *

As Veronica left her gym class, surprisingly unmolested despite the presence of the girls Lilly had dubbed the Toxic Trinity—Madison, Kimmy, and Pam—she saw Meg waiting for her in the same spot as she had the day before. She raised her eyebrows as she neared the taller blonde.

Meg smiled a little ruefully. "You may be aces at spitting in the face of the 'reign of Kane,' but I'm more of a team player, and there isn't anyone at your table yet."

"Which explains why you're the cheerleader and I'm the social pariah," Veronica said with a grin. "By all means, let me escort you in to lunch." She and Meg walked out into the sunshine, only to find that by the time they reached the center of the lunch area, Wallace, Mac, and Casey had already arrived. "Hey, guys! We've got one more joining us today."

Casey nodded at Meg, but Veronica introduced her to Mac and Wallace. "Cindy, right?" Meg asked, when it was Mac's turn. "I think we have Mr. Rooks' AP History class together."

"Ah, only the teachers and my parents call me Cindy," Mac said with a grimace. "I go by Mac, otherwise."

"Then it's nice to meet you, Mac."

Once the introductions were done, Casey pushed a container of food at Veronica. "You get first stab at the pot stickers, as requested."

"First stab? You mean these aren't all mine?"

Silently, Casey took out another box of pot stickers. "I thought you might say that, so I bought extra."

"Good! Your training is going well, I see."

He rolled his eyes, but continued handing off food around the table. To Mac, he said, "And this one's special, for you. Veggie stir fry with rice, plus veggie dumplings."

"Thanks," the brunette said, offering the senior a shy smile.

"No problem."

They chattered about school and Veronica and Meg's upcoming shopping plans as they ate. Meg, being the genuinely nice person that she was, was quickly accepted by Veronica's three companions. And as it turned out, she knew a surprising amount about basketball, and she told Wallace all about the existing team and its rivalry with the neighboring school district, Pan High.

"I hope you do get on the team," Meg said. "They need scorers, and bad. Pan High has some pretty decent guys on their team this year, so we're going to have to be pretty aggressive to beat them."

Wallace grinned. "You can count on me. Don't be fooled by this amiable exterior—get me on the court, and the demon comes out! Coach posts tryout results on Friday."

Everyone offered Wallace well-wishes. "I'm buying lunch tomorrow," Veronica announced. "Hope you're all good with Italian. Meg, you're welcome to join us if you decide you want to stick with us."

"Maybe," she said. "Now about that case…"

"You okay with these guys knowing the details? Or do you want me to catch you later?"

The taller blonde blushed. "Uh, no, that's fine." She looked around. "You guys are all really nice, and maybe you could help me out too." She looked a little bashful when she said, "I've got a secret admirer, and I asked Veronica to find him for me."

"Won't that, I dunno, ruin the fun?" Wallace asked, brow furrowed.

"My parents are really conservative," Meg said. "I guess, I just want to know if it's someone I'm likely to be allowed to date before I get too invested."

"Hmm." Veronica tapped her chin with her index finger as she regarded the blonde thoughtfully. "So you don't really need to know who it is, as long as someone you trust can vouch for them?"

"Well, yes? Ideally you. You know me, and I know you're pretty observant about the guys here. And you've met my parents, so you'd probably have a good idea of how they're likely to react."

Veronica smiled. "Deal. I'll even do it pro bono, except if I have to grease some wheels or recruit the tech wunderkind over there—" she pointed to Mac "—to help with things."

"I don't mind helping either," Mac said with a smile.

"Thank you," Meg said, smiling. "You guys are all so nice."

"Well, to be fair, look at who you've got to compare us to," Casey said, nodding at the 09er table.

They all looked in that direction, and got glares from the 09er girls in return. That just had them bursting into laughter. Which served as the perfect bait for one Lilly Kane, apparently.

"What are you laughing at, Veronica Mars?" she said, her face schooled into a look of hauteur she must have learned from her mother. Only those who knew her well would recognize the spark of manic mischief in her green eyes. She'd pitched her voice so everyone in the quad could hear her.

"None of your business, Lilly Kane," Veronica said, matching her in volume.

"Poaching on my friends now?" Lilly's eyes flicked to Meg and then back to Veronica.

"I prefer to think of it as liberating them from your servitude."

"Oh, like you liberated yourself? And found some poor-man's Fab Four to replace us with?"

"I resent that remark," Casey mumbled. Lilly ignored him, but Veronica smirked at that.

"I'm not replacing anyone, Lil," Veronica said tiredly. "I'm just making new friends. If my old friends want to continue _being_ friends, that's fine with me. A person can always use more friends."

"Oh? And what about _boyfriends_? Or don't you think I've noticed how you've been hogging personal time with my ex? No one believes you're really just friends." Now the manic glint in Lilly's eyes was pretty evident, but Veronica supposed people would think it rage instead of the Kane heiress suppressing the urge to squeal and possibly jump up and down.

"We _are_ friends, whatever else you _believe_."

"Yeah, that's what everyone says, til they stick a tongue down his throat."

Veronica snorted. "He wishes."

"Maybe so, maybe so!" Lilly's smile was wide. "But you know how I'd take it if someone I've called my best friend for years were to take what Logan so readily offers."

 _Not how the rest of the school would expect_ , Veronica thought. Out loud, she spoke unvarnished, although slightly deceptive, truth: "You've made your feelings abundantly clear on that point, Lilly. Multiple times."

"I feel so objectified," Logan remarked.

"Shut up, Logan!" both petite blondes said at once.

"Oh god, I got that in stereo. Somebody save me!"

Veronica snorted, while Lilly gave him the finger. "I'm warning you, Veronica Mars."

Veronica put on a show of inspecting her cuticles. "I'm afraid you'll have to be a little clearer. What exactly are you warning me about?"

"You think I'm just gonna sit here and take it while you mock me?"

"I was kind of hoping you'd sit there," Veronica said, waving toward the 09er table. "I made my point weeks ago, Lilly. You're better than this. _Be_ better than this. I'm your friend, not your lackey, and as your friend, it's my job to tell you when you're treating people like shit because it is _not_ okay."

"If you were my friend, you would take my side." Lilly crossed her arms and pouted.

"Being on your side doesn't mean agreeing with you when you're wrong."

"Go against me, and you'll be sorry."

"Go against _me_ , and _you_ _'ll_ be sorry. Especially when you know I'm right."

Lilly sneered. "Hit me with your best shot."

Veronica just raised an eyebrow at her. Subtly, she reached into her bag where it sat on the bench beside her. "You ask so nicely, I just might."

"Big words, Ronica."

"Only if I can't back them up, Lilly."

"I look forward to seeing you try." Appearing completely satisfied she'd had the last word, Lilly marched back over to the 09er tables, taking her place among the girls, who immediately proceeded to suck up to her.

"I'm not sure you should've done that, Veronica," Meg murmured.

Casey grinned. "Seemed pretty awesome to me." He started humming the song from Les Miserables again.

Veronica pointed her chopsticks at him. "Shut up, you." She shook her head, smiling when he kept grinning. "So, guys, I'm about to do something, and Lilly Kane is going to get a lesson in the kind of retaliation I am aces at. You might want to not be sitting here when the dust settles." _Literally_ , she thought.

"Nah, I'm good where I am," Casey said. " _Viva la revoluci_ _ón_!"

"Me too," Wallace said. "You took on a gang of bikers for me. I can handle a bunch of mean girls."

"I'm in too," Mac said. "I've spent way too long on the sidelines, I think."

"Veronica," Meg said slowly. "Are you sure you know what you're doing?"

She smiled, though that was a polite word for the rather feral baring of teeth it really was. "Absolutely."

The taller blonde nodded once. "Then I'm with you too."

Veronica stared thoughtfully at the 09er girls, then she pulled out her phone. "Wallace," she said idly, "Did you remember to slip that CD into the PA system like I asked?"

"Yes."

"Good." She made a call, let it ring thrice, then hung up, trusting her contact to do as she'd asked. Thirty seconds later, the first strains of Beethoven's Symphony No. 5 roared through the school's speaker system. She set her phone down and reached into her bag once more, grasping the small remote control she'd hidden in one of its pockets. Then she watched as everyone looked around them in confusion. Just as the symphony was about to hit a high note, she caught Lilly's eye, smiled, and hit a button on the remote.

The soaring notes covered the whirring as the fans came to life and the soft pops as dye packs burst open. And then dust clouds in bright shades of magenta, orange, yellow, green, blue, and purple descended upon the 09er girls' table.

The symphony was _not_ loud enough to overpower the sound of half a dozen girls shrieking like they'd been dropped into the water in a _Jaws_ movie, as it turned out.

Strangely enough, they hadn't thought to run away, possibly because Lilly Kane was standing in the midst of them, being dusted by all sorts of colors, staring at Veronica Mars.

The music crescendoed again, and Veronica hit another button. Another set of packs burst open, and colors once more filled the air. She scowled at her sister, willing her to play along.

The 09er boys, as it turned out, had recovered from their shock. Most of them sprang away from the commotion, in a desperate attempt to save their clothes from being dusted in color. As the music swelled toward a high point once more, Logan sprang into action, dragging Duncan with him so the two boys could work the mechanism on the umbrella to close it.

Veronica let go of the remote control, then dialed the number on her phone again, letting it ring once, and then dropping it. Then she glanced at her companions as the music died. Casey had laughed himself sick and was bracing himself on the table, holding his stomach. Mac had her hands over her mouth and was staring at the 09ers in awe and horror. Wallace seemed torn between amusement and exasperation. And Meg, once she had closed her gaping mouth, raised her eyebrows at Veronica.

"I suppose I should take this opportunity to thank you for inviting me to join you for lunch today," she observed wryly.

"Ohmigod," Casey gasped, wiping tears from his eyes, his face red from exertion. "That was amazing. Veronica, you are my hero."

The bell rang, signaling fifteen minutes before the start of the next period. Veronica stood up and grabbed her messenger bag. "Be that as it may, this 'idol' needs to get to class," she said. "But don't forget, lunch is on me tomorrow."

With that, she headed back toward the school building, but not before stopping in front of the 09er table, meeting Lilly's eyes, then pointing a finger gun in her direction and cocking the "trigger" with a click of the tongue. Then she strolled toward the school building, seemingly oblivious to all the eyes on her or the silence in the quad as she left.

AUTHOR'S NOTE: Thank you to Irma66 for always checking over my chapters before I post them. You're a godsend! Next update: 20 March 2019.


	20. Guarantee, Unto Me

**Chapter 20: Guarantee, Unto Me**

* * *

SUMMARY: Troy makes a move, and Duncan is a dumbass.

* * *

Whispers and stares followed Veronica everywhere for the rest of the day. She was glad she'd had the foresight to schedule study hall at the end of the day rather than the beginning, as Lilly and Logan and most of the 09ers did. She should've anticipated half the 09ers using the lunchtime shenanigans to ditch their afternoon classes, as she learned after she'd retrieved the duffel bag containing the fans from the janitor's supply cabinet and stashed them in her car.

She figured she'd find Logan and Duncan on or near the bleachers, and her suspicions were confirmed when she heard a bunch of guys laughing and hooting. She smirked and headed in that direction, to let Logan know she was ready to go anytime.

As she turned a corner, she heard her name called, and sighed inwardly when she spotted Troy Vandegraff approaching. Still, she stopped to see what he wanted.

"Well, don't look too happy to see me," Troy said, when she just raised her eyebrow as he neared. "People might think you're desperate."

"One would think that the demonstration at lunch would prove otherwise. Not that I'm confessing to any involvement in it."

"I guess that depends on who you're asking. Today's victims might have a different opinion from its bystanders. But let me offer my congratulations on a well-delivered comeuppance."

"Alleged comeuppance."

"Of course, of course."

"Wait, wait, wait. Guys! Check it out, guys!" She frowned when she heard Duncan's voice drift down from the bleachers above them. "Six guys. Bleachers. Jump in when you're feeling this, okay? 'Summer lovin', had me a blast.'" She winced when she heard the caterwauling that passed as her brother's attempt at singing.

Troy grimaced alongside her. "Is that who I think it is?"

"If you think it's Duncan Kane, then you'd be right."

"'Summer lovin', happened so fast.'"

"Ugh. He sounds like the seagull from _The Little Mermaid_ ," she said over the laughter of Duncan's companions. "Somebody stop him."

"What's gotten into you, man?" Logan could be heard calling out.

"You almost never hear me saying this, but thank god for Logan Echolls." Veronica adopted an exaggerated look of faux piety, making Troy laugh. "So what was it you wanted to talk about?"

"I just wanted to say I really enjoyed going out with you yesterday. I'd like to do it again."

"Hey, check it out!" Dick Casablancas could be heard saying. She looked up to see him at the railing near the top of the bleachers. Then she gaped as one of the 09er boys took a running leap off the side, flipping over to land on a convenient stack of athletic matting. An instant later, half a dozen 09ers had rushed over to the railing, and upon seeing the daredevil—was that Chester?—unhurt, they started catcalling and congratulating him on his antics.

She rolled her eyes. "Dumbasses."

"Yeah, looks like," Troy said, grinning. "Listen, Veronica, before we got interrupted yesterday, I was going to see what you thought about—" He stopped, gave her a shy, hesitant look that tempted her to roll her eyes. He wasn't half the actor he thought he was.

Still, she took his cue. "Thought about what?"

"This." And that was when he stepped forward, cupped her face with both hands, and kissed her. Ugh. But she let herself react, jolting in surprise. She dutifully raised one hand to the back of his neck, the other to clutch at his shoulder.

When his tongue probed at the seam of her lips, she steeled herself to open her mouth when she heard a war cry. Glad for the excuse to break apart, she turned her head in time to see Duncan do a split-second hand-stand on the railing of the bleachers, before flipping over and falling. Only, unlike his predecessor, instead of landing on the matting, he bounced off and landed hard on the ground with a sickening thud.

"Duncan!" she yelled in concern, racing over to kneel by her brother.

"You okay, man? What was that? A triple klutz?" Logan called from above. His tone was mocking, but she could hear the tension beneath the teasing.

Duncan ignored his best friend, frowning at the boy who'd followed behind her. Then his gaze shifted to meet hers as she carefully checked him for injury, and he smiled goofily. "Hey," he said, then chuckled.

Veronica frowned as she pulled back to get a better look at his face and saw that the hand she'd had behind his head was wet with blood. She flicked her gaze up to Logan's, saw her own worry reflected in his eyes.

"Shit," Logan said. She heard him pounding down the bleachers in the next moment.

"He needs to go to the hospital." She pitched her voice so it would carry to Logan and the 09er guys.

"Hey, Duncan! Open your mouth. This will help!"

She watched Duncan's gaze track skyward, and she looked up to see Sean Friedrich pouring alcohol out of a hip flask from about eight feet above them. She ducked her head as some of it splashed down on them. Duncan just laughed.

"Dumbasses," she said again as Logan joined them. "Come on," she told her brother. "I'm pretty sure Lilly went straight home after lunch."

"Yep," Duncan said, still giggling and making no effort to get up. "She was pink and blue and orange."

"Here," Logan said, reaching into his backpack to pull out a towel and press it against the back of Duncan's head. "This will help."

"Thanks. Take his other side, and help me get him to my car." Together they hoisted Duncan to his feet. He draped an arm over each of them, let them lead him to the parking lot.

"Death-defying stunts, gushing head wound—you're the man, brother!" Troy joked as they approached Veronica's Range Rover. She glanced at Logan, rolled her eyes.

Duncan laughed. "And I almost stuck the landing."

"Troy, can you go to the admin office and let someone know we're taking Duncan to Neptune General?" Veronica asked as she unlocked the car and she and Logan loaded Duncan into the front seat. Logan climbed in the back. "Logan can call his dad while I drive."

"I could come with."

"No thanks. We've got it."

"You sure you don't want some help?"

"She said, we've got it," Logan said.

She swung herself into the driver's seat, turning back to frown at Duncan, who still looked kind of dazed and altogether too cheery for someone bleeding from the head. "Put your seatbelt on, and hold the towel tighter," she ordered him. She turned once to glare at Troy so he'd back away from the side of her car, then peeled out of the parking lot and headed to the hospital.

She scowled when Duncan reached forward to fiddle with the radio.

"What the hell, man?" Logan asked just as the music came on. He'd finished a call to Jake Kane to let him know what had happened and now had Lilly on speaker phone as she also headed to the hospital.

"I like this song."

" _So do I, but unlike you, Donut, I'm not messing with the radio while my head is bleeding._ " Lilly's voice was irritated through the tinny speaker.

"I'm not talking about the music, DK," Logan broke in. "What the hell were you thinking, jumping off those bleachers?"

"I did good, didn't I?"

"In what alternate reality do you think your actions qualify as good?" she bit out, sparing a moment to glare at him.

"Well, it looked like Troy was going to shove his tongue down your throat. Since Lilly wasn't there to dump slushy over him this time, I improvised."

She gritted her teeth as she heard Logan snort. "DK, maybe you should leave the improv to the rest of us," Logan said.

"I wholeheartedly agree."

" _Yes, because you suck balls at it, Donut._ "

When Duncan just stayed silent, she glanced his way, then huffed out an exasperated breath and turned back to the road when she saw he was pouting at her. "Your puppy eyes aren't half as good as Logan's, Duncan. Don't think that you're getting out of this with a pout. Or that I'm not going to hold this over your head."

"My head hurts enough already," Duncan whined.

"And who's fault is that?" _Thank you, Logan._

"Troy's," Duncan replied promptly, sounding altogether too pleased with himself once more.

She sighed. "Just drop it. Now what are we going to tell the nice people at the emergency room about what happened to you?"

"He was horsing around and fell," Logan said immediately. "It happened so fast, no one really saw what happened. One moment he was laughing, the next he was on the ground."

Veronica nodded. "Simple, and true enough."

"Simple's best, when it comes to these things. You taught us that."

"You guys should just drive me home and then go out on a date or something."

" _I agree._ "

She glanced sharply at her brother, saw Logan do the same out of the corner of her eye. "No can do, not when Duncan here was doing impressions of Spider-Man without the benefit of web slinging. We're getting your head checked out."

"I'm fine."

"The blood gushing out of your head proves otherwise."

"'Tis but a scratch."

Logan chuckled. "The fact that you just said that with a British accent is not really helping your case, man. Quit while you're ahead."

"Besides," Veronica added, "Lilly will have to be so grateful to me for taking care of her beloved little brother that she'll want to be friends with me."

" _Oh, absolutely! I am most grateful to you for taking charge of my idiot brother._ " She could hear the smile in Lilly's voice. " _I have seen the error of my ways and must make it up to you, dear friend._ "

"Save it for school tomorrow, Lil." Veronica pulled the car into the ER driveway. "Logan, you take Duncan in while I park. I'll catch up to you guys."

"Thanks, Veronica," Duncan said, before letting Logan help him out of the car.

"No problem. Just don't jump off any more bleachers in a misguided attempt to save me from a little slobber. I can deal with apes like Troy Vandegraff without any assistance, thank you very much."

" _It's not a question of 'can you' but 'will you,' Veronica Mars! I sacrificed a perfectly good slushy to the same cause just yesterday!"_

Veronica rolled her eyes. "And I could've dealt with him then too. Now into the ER with you," she ordered, before leaving to find a place to park her car.

* * *

Veronica was unsurprised to find that Duncan had already been x-rayed and CT-scanned and was just waiting on a consult from the head neurologist when she joined him, Logan, and Lilly in one of the hospital exam rooms. Jake, as it happened, had called ahead, and the speedy service was par for the course, considering the Kane name graced the small hospital's state-of-the-art neurology wing.

"Our brother is such an idiot," Lilly said after she'd all but picked Veronica up in an exuberant hug. "It's a good thing my sister's a genius, to even things out. That prank was amazing! Did you see Madison? And Kimmy? And Shelly? And Pam? Ohmigod, their faces were priceless!"

"It was definitely a sight to behold," Logan murmured.

Lilly's face was alight with an almost manic glee. "I shall treasure the memory of Madison Sinclair looking like the inside of an exploded Crayola box forever and ever. She tried washing it off in the bathroom and the colors mixed and then dried and she had to go home looking like she took a header into a mud pit."

Veronica smirked. "I see you had no such trouble." Although her hair was still slightly pink, Lilly's skin was otherwise clean.

"I remembered what the Donut said about an Indian festival and convinced him to tell me about Holi."

"By convinced, she means that she sang 'It's a Small World' at me until I gave up and told her about that report you did."

Veronica and Logan laughed. "Oh man, she's done that to me before. You have my sympathies, DK."

Lilly was unrepentant. "What can I say? My methods are simple, yet brilliant, and they always work. Anyway, from there, the internet was really helpful, so I made sure to try out a new oil serum on my hair this morning and apply moisturizer."

"Good thinking." She was surprised her sister had put so much thought into what the prank would be, but glad for it. "Though I guess you must've used a heck of a lot of oil to get yourself looking fairly normal-colored."

"Veronica Mars, you can bet your cute little bum you owe me two bottles of oil-based makeup remover!"

She snorted. "So worth it."

Lilly grinned. "Definitely."

Just then, the door to the waiting room opened to admit Jake Kane. "Veronica!" he said, eyes lighting up at the sight of her.

"Hi, Mr. Kane," Veronica said in reply.

"Now, Veronica, how many times do I have to ask you to call me Jake? If you aren't comfortable with calling me da—"

"I have a dad," Veronica reminded him, as she had done for the thirty thousand other times he'd asked her to call her something other than Mr. Kane. "And he wouldn't approve of me being so familiar with my friends' parents."

"It's true, Mr. Kane," Logan said. "She calls my dad Mr. Echolls to, no matter how many times he tells her to call him Aaron."

Veronica glared at Lilly, who had covered her mouth and was giggling into her hand. Instead, she told the older man, "The nurse said Duncan's doctor should be here any minute now."

"Yes, thank you, he told me he was on his way as well."

Just then, the door behind him opened once more, admitting a doctor. He and Jake traded greetings before he turned to Lilly, Logan, and Veronica. "Hi," he said. "I'm Dr. Levine, Duncan's doctor. It's good to see Duncan's friends care about him a lot."

Lilly crossed her arms over her chest. "We're his family," she said flatly.

"Of course, of course. Duncan, would you like your, er, family to stay?"

"Yeah, yeah, that's cool."

Jake frowned. "I don't think—"

"I want them here," Duncan said. Obligingly, Lilly and Veronica took stations on one side of him, while Logan took the other.

Dr. Levine glanced in Jake's direction. On a sigh, the billionaire said, "It's all right, doctor. They know about Duncan's condition."

"All right," the doctor said. "Could we start with someone telling me what exactly happened?"

"I'd like to hear it myself," Jake said, so Logan gave them the story they'd all agreed on. When he finished, Jake scrubbed his face with a hand. "Jeez. Off a bleacher?"

Duncan just smiled sheepishly. Lilly started humming. It took a moment for Veronica to recognize the tune as R. Kelly's "I Believe I Can Fly." She smirked.

The doctor walked to one side of the room and clipped Duncan's x-rays to a light board on the wall. "Well, everything is fine. There's no fractures. Nothing that, uh, a few stitches won't fix."

Jake rubbed the back of his neck. "I-I still don't understand how this happened, Duncan. What possessed you to jump off a set of bleachers?"

Duncan shrugged. "Chester did it. It looked like fun. I just misjudged the angle of my fall."

"Boys will be boys, eh, Jake?" Dr. Levine joked. "Just don't do it again, son. You'll give your dad a stroke with such reckless behavior."

"No, sir, I won't be doing that again." He glared at Veronica, as if it were all her fault. She glared right back.

"Good. There was no harm done this time, but that's more out of luck than any kind of care on your part." The doctor did the rounds, shaking hands with all of them, though he lingered by Jake most of all.

"Thank you, doctor," Jake said.

"No problem. Always happy to help you, Jake!" The neurologist excused himself after a few more moments, disappearing into the depths of the hospital.

Jake turned toward the teenagers. "Lilly, why don't you take Duncan home? You can give Logan a ride as well."

"Um, actually, I'm supposed to ride with Veronica," Logan said. "My dad kind of grounded me, so she's my ride this week."

"All right. If I could just speak with Veronica alone for a moment?"

Veronica crossed her arms in front of her chest. "Anything you have to say to me, they can hear too."

Lilly mimicked her pose. "What Ronica said."

Jake sighed. "I just wanted to ask how your mother was."

She shrugged. "Fine, I guess. Or as fine as anyone in rehab is supposed to be."

"I was hoping you could tell me where—"

"I don't know where she is, exactly." _And I wouldn't tell you if I did._ "She's not supposed to see anyone for the first couple of weeks, anyway."

"Keith keeps dumping her in these podunk treatment centers even though she doesn't need them—"

Veronica dropped her arms to her side, clenching her fists. She had no doubt the look on her face was positively thunderous as she stalked forward. As it was, her gait and expression were formidable enough that Jake backed up a step. "My dad would never put my mom in a subpar facility. And she checked herself in, this time. At least she recognizes she's sick."

"Your mother is _not_ sick."

"She is, and it's probably your denial that keeps her from getting the help she needs."

"She doesn't need help."

"She needs something," Veronica said. "She hit me."

Jake frowned. "She didn't say anything about that."

Lilly came forward now too. "Do you think she's lying? Veronica Mars doesn't lie."

The fact that she could say that with a straight face left Veronica nonplussed for a moment.

"Not about something like that, anyway," Logan murmured, and despite the situation there was a thread of amusement in his tone.

She met his eyes for a second, then turned back to the man who'd somehow contributed half her DNA, though she was loath to believe it.

Jake ran a hand through his salt-and-pepper mane, then squeezed as if he could pull the knowledge of Lianne Mars had made of her life out of his head along with his hair. "When she called me on Sunday, she told me Keith was hauling her to another facility."

"Hauling her? She agreed to go."

"He would have kicked her out of the house if she hadn't."

"She hit me in the face. If I hadn't applied an ice pack to it, it would've left a bruise. My dad wasn't about to let her stay and try again." She didn't realize Logan had moved to stand behind her until she felt his arm drop around her shoulders. His touch was warm, gentle, and she let herself lean against him just a bit.

"That's a lie." Jake looked livid. "And he's not your dad."

"My cheek says it isn't. And like fun he's not my dad. He's the only one I've got. The only parent too, when Mom's living in a bottle."

"I—" Jake stopped, licked his lips. "Lianne wouldn't, she doesn't—"

"She would, and she does, and she did," Veronica sneered.

She ignored Lilly's awed, "Daaaammnnn, Ronica."

"There must be some explanation." Misery was etched in the lines of Jake's face and traced the slump of his shoulders. Veronica was almost sorry for him. But she was tired of his denial, and she remembered that they were all supposed to be here for Duncan. Not for this, whatever this was.

"Sure. The explanation is this: my mother is an addict, and you, more than anyone else in her life, enable her addiction. My father is doing everything he can to help her manage her illness, including checking her into a top-notch rehab facility he would've vetted beforehand. Because that's what he does, even for a woman who's been betraying him for over a decade. Now, if you'll excuse me, I have to bring Logan home. My _dad_ will be expecting me for dinner. Maybe you should start thinking about getting your children home."

She grabbed Logan's sleeve and headed for the door. He trotted after her obligingly.

"See you tomorrow, Ronica!" Lilly called after them. "I'll text you later!"

Veronica waved to indicate she'd heard her, but left the room without a backward glance.

* * *

Once they were back in Veronica's car, she just sat and stared a while, counting down until her temper evened out. Logan was a silent, solid, supportive presence beside her.

"He's such an asshole," Veronica seethed.

"Mmhmm."

"I can't believe he keeps thinking I'll just cave and call him Dad one day."

"Hmm."

"What's that supposed to mean?"

Logan leaned back in his seat. "It means that, software genius or not, Jake Kane seems to have a somewhat dubious relationship with reality. He has that much in common with my dad."

Veronica choked at that, then found herself giggling. "God, they deserve each other. Maybe _they_ should be having an affair. Two delusional guys lost in their own private wonderland."

When the boy beside her remained silent, Veronica glanced over to see Logan fairly green at the gills. "Uh, thank you for that particular mental image," he said, disgust lacing every word.

"Oh. Eewwww!" Veronica scrunched up her face, thoroughly grossed out. "Logan! I did _not_ need that picture in my head! Argh!"

"Hey, you started it." He smirked. "And serves you right for letting Troy Vandegraff get his hands and lips all over you."

She shuddered delicately. "Yet another disgusting thing to happen today. Ugh. You can be sure he's not going to get another chance at that."

"Good. He'd better not."

"You're not my boyfriend yet, Logan."

He smiled, quick and bright and joyful. "Yet. I'm still calling dibs on all your kisses from here on out, though."

She rolled her eyes and let out a huff of mock annoyance, but she couldn't stop the corners of her mouth from tilting up just the slightest bit. "Are you gonna go all caveman-like on me now that we've cleared the air?"

"Would you like it if I did?"

"Logan!"

"Veronica!" He mimicked her tone exactly.

She sighed. "You're hopeless."

"On the contrary. There is hope in my heart and its name is Veronica Mars."

"Ugh! Stop it already! That's so cheesy, ohmigod."

He smiled. "That's part of the fun."

"I thought you said you were willing to wait for the timing to be right?"

"I'm willing to wait for you to be ready. Doesn't mean I can't have fun needling you while I'm at it. Or nudge you along when I can. Or tell you I was _this_ close to punching Troy in the face." He held his thumb and forefinger about a half-inch apart to demonstrate.

"You're not my boyfriend, Logan."

"Yet."

She rolled her eyes. He nudged her arm with his elbow. And grinned unrepentantly when she grudgingly repeated, "Yet."

Not willing to meet his eyes, she turned on the engine and backed her car out of its parking slot. He smiled at her the entire ride home. It was extremely hard to ignore him.

When she pulled up in front of his house, he was still smiling gently at her. Then he leaned closer. Her breath hitched. "Thanks for the ride."

"No problem. I did, after all, agree to be your chauffeur for two weeks."

"So you did."

She licked her lips. "A-are you going to get out, or what?"

"Veronica."

"Y-yeah?"

"Jake Kane needed to hear what you had to say. I'm proud of you." She gaped at him. He smiled.

"Um. Thanks."

"You're the bravest person I know," he murmured, then reached over and gave her a one-armed hug before opening the door and climbing out. He turned back to reach for his backpack and smirked at the disappointment in her eyes. "I'll see you tomorrow, then?"

She nodded, and he gave her a two-finger salute before heading into his house. Once the door shut behind him, Veronica slumped down, pressing her forehead to the steering wheel.

What in the world was she going to do with Logan Echolls?

* * *

AUTHOR'S NOTE: Wah! I know, I know, it's a day late! I'm so sorry! I've been working 14-16 hour days the past couple of weeks and things are just piling up around me thanks to back-to-back events/projects! Irma66's feedback on this chapter was, as always, invaluable. She's the absolute best of beta readers! Next update: 31 March 2019 (as I have a big project that culminates on the 30th!).


	21. It's Centrifugal Motion

**Chapter 21: It's Centrifugal Motion**

* * *

SUMMARY: Lilly and Veronica stage a makeup scene. Troy continues to be a nuisance.

* * *

That night, Veronica sent Lilly and Logan a message telling them to log into their chat group.

 **WonderWoman:** Should I even be surprised by these nicknames?

 **ManOfSteel:** Nope.

 **DarkKnight:** I don't often get to indulge in my fandom.

 **ManOfSteel:** I have a fond memory of Justice League pajamas.

 **WonderWoman:** Have you seen her Bat Signal undies?

 **ManOfSteel:** Do tell.

 **WonderWoman:** I got her these super cute boyshorts with a gold utility belt design! Also a thong with a strategically placed gold bat signal.

 **DarkKnight:** Lilly, I'd rather we didn't talk about underwear in group chat.

 **WonderWoman:** Aw pooh. You're no fun, Veronica! Also I think it's cute that you're such a Batman fangirl.

 **DarkKnight:** He's the world's greatest detective. Why wouldn't I be?

 **ManOfSteel:** Isn't the world's greatest detective Sherlock Holmes?

 **DarkKnight:** How dare you, sir.

 **ManOfSteel:** I'm just saying I prefer my detectives to come out of novels, not comics.

 **DarkKnight:** Graphic novels are still novels.

 **WonderWoman:** Are we supposed to care?

 **DarkKnight:** Sometimes, you're a real bitch, Lilly Kane.

 **WonderWoman:** Right back at you, Veronica Mars. Pretty sure Daddy's still feeling the burn.

 **ManOfSteel:** It was nothing he didn't need to hear.

 **DarkKnight:** Moving on, how's Duncan?

 **WonderWoman:** Celeste is fussing over him. She thinks we're a bad influence on her baby boy.

 **ManOfSteel:** What else is new?

 **WonderWoman:** So enough about parentals! Let's get down to business!

 **ManOfSteel:** To defeat the Huns! Did they send me daughters when I asked for sons?

 **WonderWoman:** Dork. I mean the business of getting Veronica and me back together before that blue-haired computer geek tries to oust me from my role as best friend forever!

 **DarkKnight:** There will be no ousting.

 **WonderWoman:** Of course not, because we are having our big reunion scene tomorrow!

 **WonderWoman:** Do I throw myself at your feet as you walk through the doors in the morning?

 **WonderWoman:** Do I drag you into the girls' bathroom?

 **WonderWoman:** Do I pull you into my arms and kiss you passionately?

 **ManOfSteel:** I and the entire male population of Neptune High would thank you for it.

 **DarkKnight:** I'm not really into incest, so no. Here's what I had in mind…

* * *

The next morning was relatively uneventful, though Veronica had to suppress a smirk at the colorful splotches that persisted on the hair and skin of many of the 09er girls. At any rate, the brightness of their physical presence helped dampen the knife-edged hatred with which they glared at her. Apart from indulging in a bit of smirking, she ignored them, focusing instead on finding her target. She spotted him surrounded by his crew down the corridor.

She walked right up to the leather-clad group, noting with some amusement that many of the guys straightened as she approached. Eli noticed her immediately, but she understood the necessity of posturing, and she wasn't offended when he ignored her until Felix waggled his eyebrows at her and said, "What's up, blondie?"

Blithely, she ignored Eli's second-in-command. "Eli," she said, allowing just a hint of a smile.

"V."

"I have a proposition for you."

Felix, predictably, reacted in the worst way possible. She decided he was the PCHers' answer to Dick Casablancas. "Ayyyy, a proposition, she says! Blondie, you can proposit me anytime!"

She rolled her eyes. "Maybe grab a dictionary, cause that's not even a word, _chiquito_."

He glared in response. "Who're you calling a little boy, _peque_ _ñita_? There's nothing _little_ about Felix Toombs!"

"Except what's in your upper story, apparently." She tilted her head at Eli. "Call off your dogs, or I might forget I was going to offer you a way to make some easy cash."

Weevil tilted his head right back at her. "I'm listening."

She glanced around them, noticed the interested looks of other students milling about. Grabbing onto the head biker's leather jacket, she dragged him into the girls' bathroom she'd long-ago appropriated as hers. Outside, the PCHers could be heard oohing and making lewd noises, but both she and Eli ignored them as a matter of course.

"I need you to let one of your boys agree to slash my tires. I'm pretty sure one of the 09er girls is going to ask someone to do it, which means they'd be willing to pay."

Eli's eyebrows shot up. "Why would you want me to do that?"

"I have my reasons."

"And how does that earn me money? Apart from taking money from the rich for the purpose of slashing your wheels."

"All will be revealed in due time, but I can assure you, you'll be looking at a few hundred, maybe even as much as a couple of thousand, if we work it right." She knew Lamb had a budget for paying off informants, and if he couldn't swing this, her dad would probably be more than happy to front the cash to get Troy out of Neptune High and put a "personal trainer" who liked to peddle pharmaceuticals to underaged athletes out of commission.

"For real?"

"Yep. I won't even ask to split it, even if I'll be doing a lot of the prep work."

He smirked. "Well, when you put it that way…"

"So it's a go?"

"Sure."

"Thanks, Weevs. This is just stage one of my plan. I'll let you know when we'll be enacting the second stage."

He rolled his eyes. "No problem. I'da done you the favor for free because damned if yesterday's show wasn't the most hilarious thing I've seen at school all year."

She pursed her lips at him for a moment. "Aren't you dating Lilly Kane on the down-low?"

"Down-low is right, but dating? I'm not sure that's the right word for it."

"What's the right word for it, then?"

"Let's just say, there's a blonde who can ride a hog."

"Gross." She grimaced.

"Well, you asked."

"Well, I guess that's my cue to skedaddle."

"So that's all you needed? Just one of my boys to slash your tires?"

"Yes. And just the tires, please. They try to hurt my baby beyond that, and you and I will be having a word. A rather violent one."

Weevil smirked. "You say that like you think I don't know you drive a goddamn work of art. When are you gonna let me under its hood, _chica_?"

"See that you treat my ride with respect, and I just might consider letting you have a look-see."

As the bell rang and they parted ways, she took out her phone and sent Logan a message. _Eli is a go. Now to ditch Duncan from your plans for TJ and convince Luke he needs a car and driver._

She hadn't even made it to class when her phone buzzed with his reply. _Got it. See you at lunch._

She frowned. _Lunch was supposed to be with Lilly_.

 _It_ _'s cute how you think I'm gonna let Lilly stake her claim without making one of my own. She might be your sister, but I'm your almost-boyfriend._

She bit back a grin. It was just as well she had to put her phone away when she slid into her seat at the back of the classroom. She was definitely looking forward to lunchtime.

* * *

Thanks to the fact that she had PE before lunch and had the Toxic Trinity in it—all of them determined to make trouble for her after yesterday's color bomb—Veronica was the last one to her customary lunch table that day. Wallace, Mac, Meg, and Casey were already seated, and standing next to the table was the delivery guy from Luigi's. Veronica handed him her card and took the bag of food, handing it to Casey for distribution. She signed for lunch after that, tipping the delivery guy generously, then scowled him into retreating after he asked for her number.

"That's some glare you've got, supafly," Wallace said, grinning.

"Ugh. Doesn't he now it's icky to hit on minors?"

"To be fair," Mac said thoughtfully, "you're a _hot_ minor."

"Ms. Mackenzie, are you flirting with me?" Veronica batted her eyelashes at her friend.

"She'd better not be."

Everyone looked up to see the one and only Lilly Kane standing beside their table. Despite her teasing words, the expression on her face was contrite and a tad apprehensive. She was biting her lip, and her green eyes were huge and kitten-like.

Veronica was keenly aware of the fact that she and Logan were probably the only one in the entire quad who weren't surprised at this development. "Lilly," she said evenly.

"Ronica."

"What do you want now?"

Lilly pouted. "I wanted to apologize."

Veronica thought she could have heard a pin drop in the quad at that moment. There were very few things Lilly Kane never did—apologizing was widely believed to be one of them. Still, Veronica appreciated the value of showmanship, and she knew that to make her point, she couldn't let the Kane heiress off easy.

"For what, precisely?"

"For my behavior?" Lilly made it a question, as if hoping she'd gotten the right answer.

"That covers all manner of sins, I'm sure," Veronica said dryly.

"Fine. I'm sorry I lost my temper at that party. I'm sorry I've been a bad friend to you since school started. I'm sorry I sassed you yesterday. _And_ I'm grateful you took care of my brother when he decided stupidity was something cool to try."

She crossed her arms. "I'm not the only person to whom you owe an apology."

Her sister put on a show of slapping her forehead. "Are you kidding me?"

"Nope." She popped the P.

Lilly ran her hands through her long hair, then grasped the ends and pulled with a nonverbal scream of frustration. Veronica just waited her out. Finally, Lilly huffed out a breath, her shoulders slumping for a moment. Then they straightened as she turned back toward the 09ers' table.

"Logan Echolls, I'm sorry I cheated on you and treated you like crap." She paused. "But I'm not sorry I broke up with you because, boy, that was a long time coming."

Logan, for his part, raised a sardonic eyebrow. "Apology accepted and reciprocated. And on the breakup, right back atcha, sweet cheeks."

Lilly grinned. "We had a good run, didn't we, lover?"

Logan stood up and started walking forward as well. "That's one way you could put it." He stopped when he was in front of her. Got right up into her space. Veronica could all but hear the entire high school holding its breath as the King and Queen of the 09ers gazed intently into each other's faces. "There's one thing I have to let you know, though, and then we're square."

"Oh?" Lilly tilted her head, lifted her chin. "What's that?"

"I'm keeping Veronica in the divorce."

In the next moment, he'd stalked over to Veronica's side of the table, then slid onto the bench next to her. She stared at him a moment, then rolled her eyes.

Lilly gaped after him, then snarled—only Veronica and Logan knew her well enough to recognize she'd done so to keep a grin from splitting her face. "Hey!"

He beamed at her. "Hi!"

"Veronica is _mine_." She punctuated this by stalking over and squeezing in on Veronica's other side, oblivious to the stares from the other occupants of the table.

"By virtue of him being your brother, I'm never gonna get to keep Duncan, so I'm claiming the tiny blonde one."

Green eyes narrowed dangerously. "Veronica is _my_ friend."

Chocolate brown eyes wrinkled in patently guileless amusement. "Doesn't mean she isn't my friend too."

Lilly slung an arm around Veronica's neck. "Fight me, Echolls."

Logan wrapped an arm around her waist. Veronica tried to ignore the warmth of his hand on her belly. "Bring it on, Kane."

She raised her eyes to heaven, as if pleading for patience. She ignored Meg's hysterical little giggle and the way Casey was coughing to hide his amusement at the scene Logan and Lilly were making.

"Do you think they'll try to cut her in half so they can each take home a piece?" Wallace whispered to Mac, who choked on a laugh.

Veronica removed both her friends' hands from her person, took a moment to glare at everyone in turn, then held up three fingers, counting off as she went. "One, if you will remember what caused this whole fight to begin with, you are _both_ my friends."

"But Ronica, aren't I your _best_ —"

"Two," she continued as if she hadn't heard Lilly, "I'm fully capable of being friends with more than one person at a time. Exhibit A, this table. Exhibit B, the two of you idiots, and Lilly's equally idiotic brother. There is certainly no need for a King Solomon-type solution to your petty squabbling for my attention."

"Veronica—"

This time, it was Logan she ignored. "And three, did I say you could sit here?"

Both members of the Fab Four pouted. Logan crossed his arms. "You didn't say I couldn't."

She snorted. "Fine. But get your own food. I only bought lunch for four."

"Actually, if you didn't eat as much as half the football team, the amount of food on this table could feed at least seven or eight people."

"I have to say he's got a point, Ronica," Lilly said, reaching for a slice of garlic bread. "There's no way your tiny self should be able fit this much food inside of you."

"How quickly you forget," Logan scoffed. "Veronica Mars has a black hole where her stomach should be. Either that, or she's got four stomachs." He looked toward the 09er table, put two fingers in his mouth and whistled (a skill Veronica had always envied), and Dick Casablancas came trotting over with a large box of pizza in hand.

"Like a cow?" Wallace asked, snickering.

Dick placed the pizza box on the table, very obviously ignoring Lilly's presence. "Logan. Ronnie. Case. Other people."

Veronica arched an eyebrow at him. "Dick."

He stood back, then at Logan's nod, retreated to the relative safety of 09erdom.

Logan turned his attention back to the people at the table with them. "Exactly like, Wally."

"It's Wallace, actually."

Logan shrugged, looking bored, but Veronica glared at him, and he sighed. "Hello, new friends. I'm Logan."

"We know," Mac said.

"And I'm Lilly."

"We know that too," Wallace chimed in.

"While the breadth of your knowledge is gratifying, I would appreciate if you could enlighten us as to _your_ names."

"Huh?"

Veronica sighed. "He means, introduce yourselves."

Wallace held out a hand, the expression on his face that of someone meeting a dog who might sniff or bite, and he wasn't sure which. "Wallace Fennel."

Logan went all out. Of course he did. He grasped the other boy's hand in his and pumped it eagerly. "Logan Echolls, Mr. Fennel, sir."

She bit back a chuckle. "Down, boy."

Logan stuck his tongue out at her, but straightened, then turned to Mac. "And who might you be?"

"Mac," she said shortly, blushing when he continued to regard her quietly. Veronica didn't blame her. When Logan Echolls looked at you with that measure of intensity, like he wasn't just trying to get to know you, but was trying to see into your head and your heart and find out what made you tick—well, she'd been on the receiving end of that look too often not to sympathize with the way it flustered the other girl. "It's s-short for Mackenzie. My first name's actually Cindy, but nobody calls me that and lives." Belatedly, Mac held out a hand for him to shake, then giggled when he took it, turned it over, and kissed her knuckles.

"Charmed, I'm sure."

"Logan, I'm pretty sure Veronica's not going to let us hang with her if you flirt with her friends." Lilly's voice was dry as dust.

"Are you going to kiss my hand next, then?" Casey wondered idly. "Well, have at it." He held out one big hand, fingers down, wrist at a delicate angle, and batted his eyelashes at Logan from across the table. Veronica couldn't help laughing at the picture he made. He dropped the act and grinned at her, then curled his hand into a fist. Obligingly, she bumped it with her own. The tall senior only shrugged and resumed eating when Logan glared at him.

Veronica dug into her own lunch—lasagna, of course. Everyone else followed suit. "What were we talking about before we were so rudely interrupted?"

Meg gave her a knowing look before saying, "We were talking about how the delivery guy asked for your number."

"He _what_?!"

She rolled her eyes at Lilly and Logan's yelps, mouthed the words _thanks a lot_ to Meg and punctuated them with a glare to which the other girl smiled serenely in response. Her friends' protectiveness over her was a well-established fact of life in Neptune High—it was part of what had surprised the population so much about their split.

She shrugged. "Relax. It's not like I gave it to him."

"You'd better not have," Logan muttered.

The irritation on his face left Veronica huffing and made the other two blondes at the table grin. She sighed. Now she had Lilly _and_ Meg double-teaming on this. She was grateful when distraction came in the form of Luke Haldeman and Troy Vandegraff.

The two newcomers stood exactly where Lilly had, just a few minutes before. "Logan, can I talk to you a sec?" Luke asked nervously, glancing at the crowd at the table.

Logan swallowed down a bite of pizza, waved a permissive hand at the pair. "Go ahead."

"I mean—alone?"

He frowned, and one side of Veronica's mouth quirked at the perplexed look he put on his face. "No can do, dude. I leave this spot, and Lilly's gonna horn in on my space. Not to mention, Veronica's gonna steal my pizza."

He said that last bit as Veronica was trying to sneak a slice of pepperoni off the slice in his hand. She dropped her hands quickly. "I only wanted that little bit!" He smiled indulgently, plucked it off the pizza himself, and held it out to her. She glared at him, then obliged by taking it between her teeth making sure her lips didn't brush his skin. "I'm not a dog, you know," she grumbled as she chewed.

"If you were, I'm sure you'd be a cute little cocker spaniel."

Lilly snorted. "You wish. Ronica would absolutely be a pit bull. Or maybe a doberman."

Logan ignored her. "So what was it that you needed?" he asked the two boys, then took another bite of pizza.

Luke and Troy exchanged a look, and then Luke looked back at Logan, shuffling his feet a bit. "Ah, I was wondering if you were still on for this weekend? I know you said you didn't have a car until next weekend, so Troy offered to drive us."

Logan chewed thoughtfully. "Sure, I guess. I mean, Duncan's probably out, after the stunt he pulled yesterday."

Veronica saw Troy smirk a bit, before adopting a look of exaggerated concern. "How is he?"

Logan indicated Lilly with a thumb. "Ask the sibling."

Lilly swallowed down her own bite of pizza, and licked her lips in a manner designed to draw the male eye. "The Donut is fine. But if you've got plans this weekend, leave him out of it, as our darling mother won't want to let him out of her sight for a while." She said the last bit with a bit of a sneer, and Veronica would've believed the contempt, if she didn't know that both Kane siblings all but suffocated when Celeste started clucking over Duncan—it was always about Duncan, for Celeste.

"Good, good."

Logan raised an eye at the boys. "Was that all?"

Luke flushed. "Uh, yeah. Thanks, Logan. So, Friday after school? We can get a place for the night, get some surfing in the morning, grab lunch at that _cantina_ we went to last time, then head back in the evening."

"Sure, you can come find me by Veronica's car. She's my chauffeur for the week, you know."

"I'm pretty sure the whole school knows that by now, ex-boyfriend. And Veronica is no chauffeur."

"Thank you kindly, Lilly." Veronica looked at Luke thoughtfully. "Want to join us, Luke? I'm sure Logan will share some of his pie." This earned her a squawk from the guy beside her, which she blithely ignored.

"Uh, no, no thanks, Veronica. Uh. Thanks, though."

"Your loss." She watched the baseball player turn and head back to the 09er table. Then narrowed her eyes as Troy sat down beside Casey.

"I'll take you up on that offer," he said, with what was probably designed to be a charming grin.

Veronica felt the two people on either side of her tense, but she kept her face bland and shrugged. "Up to you. You'll have to beg pizza off Logan, though."

"It's fine, I already ate." He then proceeded to chat with Wallace, and conversation around the table resumed, if a trifle awkwardly. Logan and Lilly seemed hell bent on one-upping each other in the effort to insult the guy without seeming to do so.

Veronica was content to eat quietly and watched her friends interact. The four who had been at the table before the others had descended upon them seemed bemused. Logan seemed determined to charm Mac and make pot shots at Casey; Lilly was doing the opposite, poking at Mac while flirting with her fellow senior.

When the bell rang to indicate the end of the lunch period, Veronica breathed a sigh of relief. She offered a small smile when she saw Wallace's and Meg's amused looks as they all rose. She had no doubt Logan and Lilly intended to join them for lunch from now on, and no doubt Duncan would follow when they got back to school. She thought about how this would affect the established cliques at Neptune High and decided she couldn't wait to find out if her guesses turned out right.

* * *

Veronica was pleased to see her Jeep listing to the side when she and Logan left the school building and headed to the parking lot later that day. Well, she wasn't pleased precisely, because she loved her car, but she was satisfied by the sacrifice of her tires for the sake of her mission. She noted a gaggle of 09er girls leaning with seeming casualness against Madison Sinclair's car watching as they approached.

"What the hell?" Logan demanded as he saw the two flattened tires on the driver's side. "I thought we were done with this, now that you and Lilly have staged your truce?"

Veronica shrugged. "Guess no one thought to brief the skank army on that point."

He turned to glare at the 09er girls, most of whom scattered and very obviously focused on appearing busy or uninterested under the furious gaze of their king. "I can take care of that right now."

She put a hand on his arm, stopping him. "They're not worth it, Logan. And Lilly'll give them hell once she hears about it. Let her have her fun."

He didn't march over to give the 09er girls a piece of his mind, but he didn't look happy about it either. Just then, the Casablancas brothers pulled up in Dick's car. "Logan! Need a ride?"

"Nah—"

"Go ahead and take the ride," Veronica said. "I'm gonna have to call someone to fix this, as I've only got one spare tire and two flats."

Logan frowned. "I'm supposed to—"

"Dude, word from the water's things are really going off today! Got a text saying there are perfect barrels off Dog Beach right now. We gotta go!"

Veronica bit back a smile at the obvious longing on Logan's face. "Logan, go. I'll be fine, and you'll be out of town this weekend, so might as well get some surfing in before then."

"Yeah, Logan, even your girlfriend says to go."

"I'm not his girlfriend."

"Yet," Logan murmured under his breath, so only Veronica could hear. She grinned and fought to keep a blush from rising. "Are you sure?"

"Which of us has a brown belt and carries a taser again? I'll call in someone to see to this then either drive myself home or catch a ride with someone. And like I said, I'm not your girlfriend." She lowered her voice. "Yet."

He looked at her for a long moment.

"Logan, are you coming or what?"

"Yeah, give me a sec." He turned to her so his back was to Dick and Cassidy and the rest of the Neptune High students who hadn't left the school yet. "You're going to try and catch a ride with Troy, aren't you?"

She smiled. "You know me so well."

"Be careful?"

"Always."

"Fine. I'll go. But I'll get Dick to drop me off at your place later, tell him I don't want to get flak for not sticking with you when I'm supposed to be grounded. And text me when you get in the car with him, and when you get home."

"Yes, Mommy."

He tweaked her nose. "You think you're so cute."

"I know I am. And you think so to."

"Well, you've got me there, Mars."

"Now, shoo. I've got things to do."

He saluted her, gave Cassidy a pointed look that had the younger Casablancas brother scrambling into the back seat so Logan could take the front passenger seat, and waved jauntily as Dick screeched out of the parking lot with a yelled, "See ya, Ronster!"

Veronica rolled her eyes and turned back to her car, pulling out her phone and calling AAA. She was well aware that the company did not do roadside tire repair service, and agreed to have her car towed to a shop where the tires could be repaired or changed. She texted her dad to let him know she'd need a ride later that evening to pick up her car, and that she'd need to borrow one of his spare cars to bring Logan home later.

"Flat?" Troy was right on time.

"Yeah, but it's nothing a little contouring wouldn't fix." She worked up a smile for him and resisted the urge to kick him when he leered at her.

"Baby, you look fine." He roughened his voice and drew out the last word.

"Whatever. Was there something I could help you with?"

"I was actually thinking there might be something I could help _you_ with. Need a ride?"

She looked mournfully at her tires. "I suppose I will, after the tow service gets here."

"Well then, your chariot awaits."

"Thanks."

She let him flirt at her (badly, she noted) for the next half hour until the tow truck arrived. After settling things with the guys from AAA, she grabbed her stuff out of the Jeep, palmed a small device she'd swiped from MIS earlier that week, and climbed into Troy's car.

"Where to, milady?"

"Let me just text my dad and let him know I've got a ride home," she said, digging through her bag for her phone, then fumbling and dropping it with a curse. She leaned down to search for it and took the opportunity to plant the bug-and-tracker device she'd brought in the side of the passenger seat. "Found it!" She straightened and waved her phone in the air triumphantly.

"Good job."

She tapped out a message she sent to both her dad and Logan letting them know she was with Troy. "So, can I buy you coffee or ice cream or something, in exchange for doing me this favor?"

He grinned at her. "We certainly can go for coffee or ice cream—your choice—but no gentleman worth his salt would let a lady pay."

"Nice to see the feminist movement passed you by entirely."

"Aww, don't be like that."

"Like what? Empowered?"

"I was going to say peevish."

"After having both my tires flattened, I think I'm entitled to a little foul temper. Besides, this? This is nothing. Sometimes I get downright curmudgeonly."

"Perish the thought."

They went for ice cream, and then he drove her home. He pulled up on the street outside the gate, killed the engine, and turned to her. "Well, here you are."

"Right. Thanks for the ride." She reached for the door.

"Hey, hold up." He jumped out and came around to her side of the car to help her out.

"I thought we'd established that I am an empowered woman. One who is perfectly capable of climbing out of a car on her own."

"Yeah, but a little chivalry doesn't hurt." He smiled down at her. Then he glanced in the direction of her house before turning back to her. "Do you have to go in right away?"

She arched an eyebrow at him. "That's generally what one does when one arrives home."

"I mean, can we talk a while?"

"About what?"

He gave her a rueful smile. "Not going to make it easy on me, huh? Okay, well here goes. Veronica, I like you."

She grimaced. "Look, Troy, I'm not really interested in getting involved with—"

He cut her off with a kiss, and since her mouth was open to speak, invaded it with his tongue. She pulled away with a glare. He shot a smug smile at her in return. "Oh, come on, baby, you know it was good. We're good together."

"I know no such thing," she said evenly.

"Well then, let me convince you." He took her by the arm and hauled her close, bending his head to hers once more.

She yanked her arm out of his grip and stepped away, using her momentum to sweep his legs out from under him. He landed flat on his back, the wind knocked out of him. "As you seemed not to notice, that was a no," she said flatly. "And for the record, you need to keep your paws off me in the future, or you won't like the consequences."

"Psycho bitch," he gasped.

"From you, I'll take that as a compliment. Now get out of here, and stay away from me, from here on out."

She turned on her heel as he struggled to sit up, and let herself in through the gate of her house, not bothering to watch as he sped away with a squeal of tires.

The front door opened before she could put her key into the lock. "Veronica! What the hell was that?"

She looked up at Logan, bemused. "I didn't expect you to be here already."

"Yeah, I didn't stay at the beach too long. Now what the hell just happened?"

She shrugged. "Troy made a move I didn't appreciate. I laid him out for the presumption."

"Why did he even think to try?"

She shrugged again. "Cause he's a prick?"

He scowled. "Yeah, he is."

"Come on," she said, leading him into the house—specifically, into the kitchen. She pulled cookies out of the jar and set them on a plate. "Let's talk and update Lilly and Duncan on what's going on."

She headed for the veranda, Logan trailing dutifully behind, where they sat on a couch, and she pulled out her phone. She dialed Lilly's number and set it to speaker.

" _Veronica Mars! Duncan's with me."_

"And Logan's with me."

" _Oh, good! I heard you rode home with Troy Vandegraff after the skank army sabotaged your Jeep."_

"I did. He met me here afterward. It mostly went according to plan."

" _Aw, shoot. Does that mean I don't get to rain hell on those peroxide-filled bitches?"_

"Nah, go to town. My knowing they were going to do it doesn't erase the fact that they did it."

" _Good."_ Her sister sounded altogether too eager. _"I've spent the past few weeks biting my tongue. Now I'm gonna rip Madison Sinclair and her pathetic little posse a new one."_

Veronica grinned. "I look forward to seeing it."

Logan leaned forward. "Oh, Lilly. You might want to ask your little sister about what she was doing with Troy Vandegraff's slimy little paws all over her right on the street this evening."

" _What?I"_

" _Veronica!"_

She winced at the volume of both Lilly's and Duncan's voices, then glared at a guileless looking Logan. "In my defense—literally—I knocked him off his feet for that stunt."

Lilly all but screamed in laughter. _"You did? Oh, I would've paid to see that! Good going, sister-mine!_ "

" _I still don't like it._ "

"Well, there's nothing you can or need to do about it now," Veronica told Duncan sternly. "Now, how are you doing?"

" _Pretty good. Mostly I want to get back to school so Mom will stop fussing."_

" _She's about ready to start spoon feeding him, poor dear."_ Lilly sounded the farthest thing from sympathetic.

"Poor Duncan is right. Now, I've got some updates that have to do with Luke and Troy."

It was all business after that, and Veronica updated them on what she'd learned about Troy, Luke, and the over-buff bodybuilder who'd decided to make Luke his mule. She also told them about the bug she'd planted in Troy's car.

"Not that I don't appreciate the ability to listen in on whatever nefarious deeds he's got planned, but why exactly did you do that?"

"I'm not sure what he's got planned. I just know it has to do with your trip to Tijuana and the drugs Luke will be buying when you're down there. It's important we find out what he's going to do."

" _All the better to thwart him with._ "

"Exactly so, Lils, exactly so."

They tossed ideas around for a while, deciding that he would most likely try to steal the drugs then skip town to rejoin his girlfriend back East.

" _Guess he's going to leave Caitlyn Ford in the lurch. She's been sleeping with him pretty much since he arrived, you know. And I'm pretty sure she doesn't know about this Shawna girl he's with."_

Logan scowled. "That surprises me not at all."

"If it makes you feel any better, Caitlyn's been bumping uglies with Chardo Navarro since the school year began too."

" _Weevil's cousin?_ "

"The very same."

" _Well, if he's anything like his cousin, she's in good hands, at least._ "

Veronica huffed out a laugh. "From the looks he sends her across the quad when he thinks no one's looking, he's pretty smitten with her."

" _Poor bastard. Not that I can figure out what he sees in tall, skinny, and dumb as a box of rocks._ "

"You're terrible."

" _Yes, but you love me anyway."_

"Yes I do."

" _And me too?"_ Why were the Kanes so needy all of a sudden?

"Of course, Duncan."

"Now I'm feeling left out," Logan said, an exaggerated pout on his face.

" _Veronica, tell Logan you love him._ "

Dutifully, Veronica said, "I love you, Logan." Her voice was even and nearly robotic in quality. Logan smirked, but the wry mockery didn't reach his eyes, which were all but glowing with pure schmoop. Lilly shrieked over the phone lines in such a way that Veronica was tempted to check the gadget for cracks. "Okay, enough guys. Let's keep each other updated now that we're all square again. I've gotta go bring Logan home so my dad and I can pick up my car when he gets home."

The Fab Four said their goodbyes, and Veronica headed over to the garage. She grabbed the keys to her dad's Range Rover and led Logan to it. Not ten minutes later, they were pulling up in front of his house.

She turned to Logan before he could tell her good night. "Don't forget to tell your dad we're springing a trap and you need to join the boys on a trip to Mexico to do it. He can call me or my dad if he's got any questions. We'll back you up."

"Sure. And don't forget you're going shopping with my mom on Saturday morning."

She smiled. "I'm looking forward to it, and Meg is too."

"Don't forget you owe me a shirt."

Her smile widened. "Oh, believe me, I haven't."

"All right. Although how I'm going to spend two days with the guy without punching the daylights out of him for making a move on you, I really don't know. Any tips?"

"Just remember I can wipe the floor with him, and since I'm half his size, it would be far more humiliating than if you did it."

He grinned. "That's true. I guess that'll help me squelch my caveman tendencies."

"Good." She tilted her head at him.

"What?"

"You're sweet."

"You're only noticing now?" His words might have been teasing, but his expression was pure sap.

She laughed. "Oh go on, you."

He smiled, leaned close over the console of the Range Rover. Her breath seized in her throat. But he leaned down and planted a soft kiss on her cheek. Or it would've been her cheek, if she hadn't turned just a bit at the last minute. It landed on the corner of her mouth instead. She stared at him. He stared back. Then he cleared his throat. "Well, I guess I'd better go."

She just kept staring at him, and he turned to open the car door. The movement seemed to jolt her out of her paralysis. She put a hand on his arm. "Logan."

He turned back to her, and she raised her other hand to skim his jaw with her fingers, then glide up to the back of his head. Before she could ask herself what she was doing, she pulled him down and set her lips against his.

In the next instant, his arms were wrapped around her. She gasped, and he licked into her mouth. Shyly, and then with increasing boldness, she tangled her tongue with his, and what happened next, she couldn't have said, as what followed was an interminable time characterized by heat, dazed disbelief, and a scent of musk and ocean that was just quintessentially Logan.

Eventually, they drew apart. She stared up at him, gasping for breath, wordless, overwhelmed. Then he pulled her close again and claimed her mouth once more.

Later, the part of her brain that picked everything apart and examined it would wonder how she ended up across the console and in Logan's lap.

Later, the rest of her brain would recall the haze of pleasure that had resulted from the kiss and dismiss the need to explain logistics.

Later, she would ask herself what had possessed her to make this move, when she'd told herself they weren't ready for it.

Later, she would wonder when she would do it again, or if he would make the first move next time.

Later, she would decide that he was worth the change in plans. That _they_ were.

But for now, she sank into the kiss and let herself fly.

* * *

AUTHOR'S NOTE: Not a late posting after all! I'm pretty sure a lot of you were waiting on that LoVe kiss, so I'm happy to finally be able to deliver! Irma66 used her magic to make this chapter better than it was, and I am, as always, eternally grateful. Also, don't know if anyone noticed, but V had a change of car model in the previous chapter, which I have since corrected. Next update: 10 April 2019.


	22. You Must Remember This

**Chapter 22: You Must Remember This**

* * *

SUMMARY: A kiss is still a kiss. Also, Lilly loses her shit.

* * *

Minutes, hours, an eternity later, they pulled apart, gasping for breath. He rested his forehead against hers, and she kept her eyes closed and her arms around his neck as they just breathed together for a few moments. It as if the kiss had simultaneously flooded her mind and emptied it, leaving her stimulated and lethargic all at once.

"I don't suppose this makes you my girlfriend yet," Logan said at last.

She pulled back to look into his hopeful eyes and smirk at him—it was the only tolerable alternative to matching his schmoopy face with her own. "One kiss does not a girlfriend make, Logan."

He pouted. "I was hoping."

"Your optimism is one of the things I love about you. But it's too soon after Lilly, and I want to get this Luke-and-Troy comedy of errors squared away before I can think of how you and I would even begin to work, when you consider all our plans."

"Veronica." His eyes were soft and buttery. Chocolate-buttery? It was possible her brain cells were still slightly blitzed.

"Hmm?"

"I hope you don't take this the wrong way, but fuck the plans."

She snorted at that. "You know me better than that."

He gave an exaggerated sigh, but the upward curl on either side of his mouth betrayed his amusement. "Yeah, I guess I do." He pursed his lips thoughtfully.

"What?"

"How many kisses does a girlfriend make?"

"Logan!"

He smirked. "Just thought I'd check. I mean, you do love me and all that." His tone was teasing, but she heard the question he'd tried to mask anyway.

"I do love you," she said softly. "I think I have for longer than I've wanted to admit it."

The light that gave his eyes a warm, melty glow, creased his cheeks and curved his lips hit her right in the chest, where it expanded and put a strange kind of pressure against her ribs. It seemed inevitable that he would kiss her again.

Long moments later, they pulled apart again, though Logan kept his hand on her cheek. She laughed, gasping a little. "What are we doing?"

"I would've thought that was kind of obvious, for a trained observer such as yourself." His own breathlessness cut the droll words, making her laugh again.

"We need to talk about this."

"I know, I know." He was pressing feather-light kisses to her jaw, and she tilted her head up to give him more access. The center console of the car must have bothered him, because he muttered a curse of frustrating just under her ear, and then she felt herself being scooped up and deposited into his lap. "Talk later. Kiss now."

"Logan!" She had never thought of herself as a giggler, but what erupted out of her mouth would certainly qualify as a giggle.

"Mmm." The sound came from deep in his throat and with her breast pressed up to his chest, it was like she could feel it in her insides. She shivered as he pressed his lips to her pulse point and licked a little.

"Logan, we need to stop."

"Don't want to."

The muttered words tickled against her neck, and she suppressed another shiver. "Logan. Stop." She stopped kneading his back—she didn't even realize she'd been doing that—and placed one hand firmly on his shoulder, gave it just the slightest push.

He stopped instantly, raised his head. "Veronica?"

She sighed. "It's not that I didn't thoroughly enjoy that, but anyone could see us—"

"I'm not ashamed to be seen with you." He scowled. "And anyone who give you flak over this can deal with me."

"That's really sweet, Lo. Even if I can smack them down just as hard as you can."

That had him grinning. "Twice as hard. At least."

"And I'm not ashamed to be seen with you either. But it doesn't fit our narrative right now."

"What are you saying? Because I can't go back to where we were before, Veronica. I won't."

She studied his face, the steel in his expression, and smiled hesitantly. "Okay," she said. "I guess I can't either. But there's so much happening right now, Logan."

He shut his eyes, leaned back in his seat. "I know, I know." He opened his eyes again. "Maybe we could keep it to ourselves a while, then see where we can fit it into the narrative."

She quirked an eyebrow at him. "Meet in mop closets? Pass each other secret notes in the hallway?"

"Well, secrets are kinda hot, too."

"You're a teenage boy. Lots of things are hot to you."

"I'm Logan Echolls. Anything Veronica Mars is hot, to me."

"Logan—"

"Give us a chance, Veronica. We can make it work."

"A secret relationship?"

"For now."

"What if it doesn't?"

"It will."

"But what if it doesn't?" Anxiously, she gnawed on her bottom lip.

He cupped her face, replaced her teeth with his lips. Unlike their kisses earlier, which had wrought chaos on her insides, this was gentle and seemed to smooth out all her frayed edges. It was _right_. "It will. I believe in you, in us."

Stubbornly, she pulled away. "Logan. What if it doesn't? Will we still be friends?"

"I'm still friends with Lilly, aren't I?"

"That's different."

He smiled. "It is, yes. But the answer to your question is yes. We will still be friends."

"Promise?"

"Always."

* * *

When she eventually got home, Veronica was pleased to note that her bug had done its job, transmitting a recording that her system automatically saved online, just waiting to be reviewed. She was amused that Troy had barely waited to peel away from her driveway before calling his girlfriend and dealer, Shauna. The other girl made commiserating noises as Troy cussed Veronica out to her. By the time he wound down, Veronica was amused to have lost count of the number of times he'd called her a bitch and by the lack of creativity in his ranting.

She lost her smile when they began talking about their schemes. He told the girl, who had to be on speaker phone by how clearly her voice came through the recording, about being invited to Tijuana for Luke's drug buy. He laughed talked about how Logan had no clue about why they were really going to TJ, then outlined his plan to "steal" his dad's car along with the drugs while they were at a rest stop, then make a show of blaming Luke and Logan for the whole fiasco when his dad came home from a business trip the following week.

Veronica learned a few interesting things that evening. One was that Troy's planning skills were decent, but his execution was flawed—he'd mentioned plans to pay the PCH bike gang to steal the car for him, but also planned to low ball them. Still, his pain was her game, because that'd make them more amenable to a double cross, and it only took a few texts to square things away with Weevil.

The second thing she learned about Troy Vandegraff was that as far as his father was concerned, Neptune was his last chance at a normal high school. If he messed up one more time, his dad was planning to send him to a disciplinary boarding school in New Mexico. He was counting on his dad not taking the time to escort him there personally so he could reclaim his stolen bounty and drive cross-country to meet up with Shauna.

Well. Of the many things Veronica enjoyed about the Fab Four's little projects, it was the opportunities she got to mess with the plans of would-be villains. Even baby would-be villains like Troy Vandegraff.

She was just outlining the fine points on her plan when a ping from her phone indicated a text from Logan. She saw it was a link to their chat room; his timing was perfect, as always. She was grinning when she logged in.

 **Odysseus:** What's with the lit nicks?

 **Achilles:** You are the general and tactician of the Neptunian war. I am your handsome hero.

 **Hector:** Then why are Lilly and I Trojans?

 **HelenOfTroy:** I have no problem being compared to the face that launched a thousand ships. If I'd been alive during that time, I bet mine would've launched two thousand.

 **Achilles:** Modest as always, I see.

 **HelenOfTroy:** Whatever, Logan. Besides, you're more Veronica's wife than her hero.

 **Odysseus:** I wouldn't say that.

 **Achilles:** Good point.

 _ **Achilles**_ _changed his name to_ _ **Penelope**_ _._

 **Penelope:** Now I am the faithful spouse who awaits the triumphant return of the hero-general.

 **Hector:** Oh god please stop

 **Odysseus:** Is it me or are these nicknames getting increasingly nerdy?

 **Hector:** Next turn I get, I'm just using our names.

 **HelenOfTroy:** Next turn I get, Logan's name is gonna be Vagina.

 **Penelope:** Only if you can be Anus.

 **HelenOfTroy:** Kinky! You're on!

 **Hector:** No body parts, please.

 **Odysseus:** Seconded. What are you guys? Five?

 **Penelope:** What are we? Yours to command, my general.

 **HelenOfTroy:** Awwwww!

 **HelenOfTroy:** Also, TRUTH!

 **Penelope:** Anyway, I wanted to say, we need to get Troy busted already, so Veronica will agree to be my girlfriend.

 **HelenOfTroy:** OMG OMG OMGGGGGGG IS IT HAPPENING?!

 **HelenOfTroy:** TELL ME IT'S HAPPENING!

 **HelenOfTroy:** ARE YOU TOGETHER NOW?

 **HelenOfTroy:** DID YOU KISS?

 **HelenOfTroy:** WAS IT MAGICAL?

 **Hector:** Lilly's on time out until she can stop squealing as she types. Also until she can learn to turn off caps lock. She can still read what you write, but I'm holding on to her laptop.

 **Penelope:** LOL. Brave man.

 **Penelope:** Also, Lilly: Not yet. Not yet. Yes. And YES.

 **Hector:** Logan, what the heck was that she just started screaming and hitting me. Mom had to come check on us, and I had to tell her TMZ reported her favorite actors just got together.

 **Odysseus:** LOL, there's hope for you as a liar yet, brother of mine. But moving on, I've got news and I've shored up our plans for Troy…

* * *

Right after Veronica outlined Troy's plan and her counter-plan, Duncan warned them that he would be giving Lilly her laptop back. Laughing, she watched the screen pop as the Kane heiress typed her name in full caps and a row of exclamation points. In the next moment, Logan and Duncan disconnected, and Veronica grinned as she followed suit.

This deterred Lilly not at all, of course. Not a minute later, she was blowing up Veronica's phone. Eventually, Veronica decided to answer as she knew Lilly wouldn't give up until she had a few answers.

" _VERONICA MARS!_ "

"Lilly Kane."

" _Oh, don't you 'Lilly Kane' me, missy! Tell all! Tell all! I will hold your sleep hostage until you do!"_

"Or I could just hang up and turn my phone off."

Veronica had to hold the phone away from her ear at the resultant shriek. " _Don_ _'t you dare, Veronica Mars! Don't you dare! I would haul myself to your place and stand outside piteously until you let me in."_

"You underestimate my willpower."

" _Then I would shimmy my fine ass over your gate. Don't think I wouldn't! And you would have to explain to your dad why the security cameras show you leaving your best friend out in the cold." !_

"Lils, it's only like 70 degrees out."

" _I_ _'m wearing that silk-and-lace teddy we bought at that store in San Diego before summer started. I would be freezing and jail bait, and you would never!_ "

She really would never, and both she and Lilly knew it, but Veronica wasn't about to let her sister bully her into sharing until she was good and ready.

"Bet I could out wait you. Or better yet, just sit pretty til Duncan came to fetch you."

" _Then I would shimmy my fine ass over your gate. Don't think I wouldn't! And you would have to explain to your dad why the security cameras show you leaving your best friend out in the cold."_

"Again. Seventy degrees."

" _Veronica Mars! If you make me wait til I can do this at school, you will be sorry._ "

Veronica frowned. Well, that was a rather more substantial threat. Lilly must be serious if she was threatening to break narrative. She sighed. "Fine. What do you want to know?"

" _Everything!_ "

"Hmm. Well, after we got off the phone with you, I drove him home. We were talking, reminding each other about some of our plans, kidding around. You know, like you do."

" _We don_ _'t, but you do. And it's called 'banter'!_ " Lilly punctuated that bit with another squeal.

"We're not in a teenage rom-com, Lil."

" _More like a gritty teenage drama with unrealistic plot arcs but fantastic chemistry!_ "

"Do you want to hear this or not?"

" _I do! I do! What happened next?_ "

"So he was gonna head in but then he leaned close and for a sec I thought he was gonna kiss me—"

" _Oooh! Wait—what do you mean you thought he was gonna kiss you? Didn_ _'t he kiss you?_ "

"Well, um, he pecked me on the cheek."

" _Ohmigod, I am so kicking his ass tomorrow._ "

"Wait, Lils, that's not all."

" _How can he pass up a chance like that—_ "

"Lilly!"

" _What?_ "

"Do you want to hear the rest of it?"

" _There_ _'s more?_ "

"Yes!"

" _Well, why didn_ _'t you say so?_ "

"You thought that was it?"

" _Um. Yeah? You guys are like, the slowest of all slow burns in the history of the universe. So. Hit me._ "

"Where was I?"

" _He pecked you on the cheek like a total lame ass._ "

"Uh, yeah. So then he turned to get out of the car and I said his name and when he turned back I kind of kissed him."

Silence.

Veronica hurried on. "Um, okay, not kind of. I did kiss him. And he kissed me back. Then we kind of stopped to breathe and then he hauled me back in for another one."

Silence.

"Lilly?"

More silence.

"Lilly, are you—"

" _VERONICA MARS_!"

Veronica was fairly sure that had she not been on the phone with Lilly she still would have heard the other girl's scream from across the 09er district. As it was, the sound sent a piercing pain through her ear and she had to hold the phone a good foot away as her sister proceeded to scream incoherently.

Then another voice came on the line. " _Veronica, what did you do to Lilly?_ "

"Duncan?"

" _Give me that—Veronica! I_ _'m so proud of you!_ "

"So I, ah, heard."

" _God, Celeste, no, I_ _'m not showing late-onset symptoms of type 4 epilepsy. I just got some really good news and am on the phone with my—no, Daddy, I didn't get early admittance into Stanford. I didn't even apply for Stanford. EVERYBODY GET OUT OF MY ROOM!_ "

Wincing, Veronica decided to just put her phone on speaker and hold it away from her. Better safe than sorry.

" _Okay, they're gone. Veronica, tell me EVERYTHING."_

"You're kind of scary, Lils, do you know that?"

" _Maybe I_ _'m scary when people don't dish up the goss when I tell them to."_

"Okay, okay. But, uh, that was that."

" _Oh no you don_ _'t, sister! Tell me about the kiss! Were there fireworks? Did he do that thing with his mouth where he—_ "

"I would really rather not think about the fact that we both know what it's like to be kissed by Logan Echolls now."

" _I would! I_ _'m thinking about it right now!_ "

"Lilly."

" _Fine, fine. But tell me, little sister, how was it?_ "

"It was—" Shocking. Mind-blowing. Life-altering. "Unexpected."

" _Uh._ "

"What?"

" _Unexpected? That_ _'s all?_ "

Veronica sighed. "It was the best kiss I'd ever had."

" _Better, but you_ _'ve only kissed like, two guys. Ever. And one of those was for spin the bottle._ "

"What do you want me to say, Lilly?"

" _I want you to tell me how it was! It_ _'s so obvious you love him, and he'd basically give himself over to be gum on the bottom of your shoe! And I KNOW he's a good kisser, okay?_ "

"Fine! I'll tell you! It was like the universe rearranged itself and it started with the inside of my head! It's been hours and I can still feel his hands in my hair and his lips on my skin and there's a feeling in my chest like my ribs are too small to hold my inside or something! Is that what you wanted to hear?"

Silence.

"Lilly?"

Silence.

"Lilly! So help me god, if you start screaming again—"

She was cut short by the sound of a sob at the other end of the line.

"Lilly? Are you okay?"

" _Y-yeah_." Her sister's voice was thick with tears. " _I_ _'m just so happy. I knew it would be like that for you guys._ "

"Sap inducing?"

" _Ronica, don_ _'t you dare ruin this moment for me!_ "

"Huh. You would think you were the one who'd just been kissed by the love of your life or something."

" _Ohhhhh_ ," Lilly wailed. " _That's perfect! The love of your life!_ _I_ _'m hanging up now before you can ruin it. You go dream about having his babies or something. I know I'm going to_."

"Ugh, Lils, I'm sixteen!"

But the line had already gone dead.

* * *

AUTHOR'S NOTE: I am soooooo, soooooo sorry for this late update! I had a string of bad luck plus a sudden overwhelming amount of work that had me working over 16 hours a day for several days. I'd hoped to write while on meal breaks, but I had to work through those too. Then was traveling, only to learn upon arrival that the place where I was staying had no water and frequent power outages, so I had to scramble to find a place to stay.

I'm headed home tonight and have got a day off coming in a few days, though, so the next update _should_ be on time.

Also, this chapter is unbetaed but because it's sooooo late and I'm feeling really guilty and wanted to post it right away. Finally, I know this whole chapter is pure fluff with very little plot, and I promise next chapter will be meatier. Again, abject apologies, all!


	23. The Answer Is Blowing in the Wind

**Chapter 23: The Answer Is Blowing in the Wind**

* * *

SUMMARY: Friends are observant, Veronica makes plans, and LoVe make out some more.

* * *

Veronica pulled up in front of Logan's house and fought the urge to blush at the memory of what they'd done in this very spot not 24 hours earlier. When Logan came out of the house, a soft smile on his face that could not be mistaken as being for anyone or anything but her, she knew she'd lost the battle as heat bloomed on her cheeks.

Seeing Lynn follow Logan down the driveway to the car didn't help matters. Still, she pasted on a bright smile for Logan's mom.

"Morning, Mrs. Echolls!"

"Morning, Veronica, dear. I'm so excited about our shopping trip tomorrow!"

Veronica's smile widened. "Yes! Me too! I definitely want to add to my new wardrobe, maybe even find something to wear to Homecoming. I'm planning to donate any remaining pastels of yesteryear once I've got enough."

"I can think of a few stores that'll be perfect for you! What about… Was it Megan?"

"Meg, yeah. She's cool. Her parents are on the conservative side, but she's got a real eye."

"Well, we'll just have to give her the opportunity to use it, won't we?"

"Sounds like fun!"

"Absolutely! Why don't you and Meg come over tomorrow about nine? Then we can head to LA in the limo, have brunch, shop 'til we drop, then maybe hit a nail spa or something and pamper ourselves until dinnertime. We'll make a real girls' day out of it."

Veronica chewed on her bottom lip. "Won't that take too much of your time?"

"Nonsense! With Aaron gone, I've got too much time on my hands, and my schedule is completely clear tomorrow."

"Yes, please, get her out of Mrs. Navarro's hair," Logan added. "She keeps trying to learn to do housework."

Lynn laughed a rare, unrestrained sound. "I'm something of a disaster in the domestic arena. So?"

"It sounds pretty perfect," Veronica said, smiling at the excitement on the older woman's face. "And I know Meg will be looking forward to it too."

"It's all settled then! I'll see you tomorrow?"

"Yep! Nine o'clock."

"All right. Head on over to school now. You wouldn't want to be late."

"Bye, Mrs. Echolls."

"Bye, Mom! Don't forget I'm heading to TJ with the guys after school."

"Have fun, baby! Don't do anything the paps can catch you at!"

Logan made a face at her calling him "baby," but Veronica could see he was happy to see his mom so animated. He pecked her on the cheek and climbed into the passenger seat of her SUV. "Good morning," he said with a soft smile.

He leaned forward to kiss her, but she laid a finger on his lips and pushed him back. "Nope. Not on the street where people can see."

He pouted. "Where then?"

She huffed in exasperation, but succumbed to his puppy dog eyes. "Girls' bathroom after lunch. You know the one."

"Your 'office'?"

"Yep." She popped the P.

"It's a date."

She snorted. "Cheap date."

"How bout if I pay for lunch beforehand?"

She pretended to ponder the question. "For everyone at the table?"

"Sure."

"Fine. Don't forget Mac is vegan."

He frowned. "What does that mean, exactly? I mean, no meat, duh. But, no fish? No eggs?"

"Nothing that came from animals, to be safe. So no milk and cheese, either."

"Huh. Okay." He tapped out something on his mobile phone for a sec, then leaned back in his seat and just watched her. "So what's with the Lara Croft outfit? Not that you don't look totally hot, but I get the feeling this isn't for my benefit."

She smirked and glanced down at her ensemble, which included a light green tank top, forest green camos, black shorts, black combat boots, and a gray denim jacket that might look raggedy but was soft as butter. "Well, I'm going to check out Casey's cult today, you'll recall. Looked the address up on GPS and it's in the middle of nowhere, so I thought I'd dress for—"

"Spelunking?"

"Ha. Ha. Look at the unreserved amusement on my face," she deadpanned.

He only smiled. "Whatever. You look cute. Seriously cute."

"Why have I been downgraded from 'hot'?"

"You're never downgraded from hot. But you're also cute. It's part of your charm. Not everyone can manage that combination."

"Thanks." She smirked as she pulled into her parking slot at Neptune High. Thanks to the impromptu planning session with Lynn they were later than she usually liked to arrive, but still had a good 15 minutes before the first bell. He looked like he wanted to kiss her again, so she reached down, grabbed his hand, and gave it a quick squeeze. Then she released it and climbed out of the car.

"Veronica Mars!"

That squeal could only belong to one person. "Lilly Kane."

"I've been waiting forever!"

"You were like three cars ahead of me. You _just_ parked."

"How did you know that?"

Logan chuckled. "All this time, and you're still questioning how Veronica Mars knows things?"

"Well it's not like I drive a wheeled banana like you do, Logie-bear."

"At least I don't have to share a car with anyone."

Lilly pouted. "You would if you had a sibling."

"I do. Her name is Trina. She may or may not be a creature of the night."

"Why is there even any doubt?" Lilly and Trina got along about as well as a mongoose and snake might. "I'm pretty sure she'd be something out of _Buffy the Vampire Slayer_ or whatever. I mean, she sucks up to _Celeste_ , for crying out loud."

"Trina's not that bad," Veronica said, amused.

Logan raised his eyebrows at her. "Are we talking about the same Trina Echolls, AKA Dead Hooker Number Two in a mid-season episode of the umpteenth season of a procedural crime show."

"I actually saw that episode," Veronica murmured.

"Me too. You could see her breathing."

"Whatever! Why are we wasting time talking about Trina when there is the juiciest gossip of the year waiting to be shared?"

"Oh?" Veronica adopted an exaggerated look of innocence. "And what gossip is that?"

"You don't fool me, Veronica Mars," Lilly warned her, before grabbing her wrist and pulling her along behind her as she headed toward the school.

"See you later," Logan said, walking toward the school building at a more sedate pace. He only smirked when Veronica looked back at him, earning himself a glare. "Remember, lunch is on me today!"

Lilly marched Veronica into the girls' bathroom, all but tossing out the two freshmen who were there powdering their noses, and blockaded the door. "Now, we are gonna be teenage girls," she announced.

Veronica arched an eyebrow at her. "In what way?"

"In the way we tell all about our current love lives and giggle hysterically over kissing boys."

"Uh. Pass?"

"No."

"No?"

"Nope." Lilly popped the P as Veronica liked to do, but the determined glint in her eyes showed she was all business this morning. "Not this time. I'm not letting you out of here til you dish."

"Lilly," Veronica whined. "I'm going to be late for class."

"Veronica," Lilly whined. "Do you think I care?"

She sighed. She knew how to pick her battles when it came to Lilly Kane. "Fine. What do you want to know that we haven't talked about already?"

* * *

She was only a couple minutes late to English class, when all was said and done. And Ms. Mills only smiled indulgently at her when she let herself in through the door and slid into an empty seat with a grimace of apology.

After class, she confirmed that she was still on for the trip to the Moon Calf Collective later that afternoon, but declined Ms. Mills' offer of a ride and told the teacher she would follow her in her car so she could make her own way home afterward. When the older woman offered to let her stay the night so she wouldn't have to drive in the dark, Veronica reassured her that she would be perfectly fine as her ride was equipped with GPS—plus, she added quite truthfully, she had an appointment at 9AM she had already committed to.

She spent the rest of her morning pondering the woman's blithe attitude. She'd seemed a little disappointed that Veronica wouldn't be staying within the clutches of their moon-cult, but had shrugged it off easily enough with the reassurance that their doors were always open. Either the cult wasn't overly eager to recruit or Ms. Mills was an excellent actress determined to play the long game. Veronica thought it might be too early to determine which. There was also every possibility that the English teacher was just a patsy to Josh Martin, head of the Moon Calf Collective.

In no time at all, the lunch bell had rung, and Veronica made her way to the quad, wondering what Logan had gone for when it came to lunch.

He'd gone with Greek, it seemed, and Veronica was pleased to be offered both some spanakopita and pastitsio, while Logan bit into a lamb gyro and Mac made yummy noises as she ate her lentil salad and these little rolls made with grape leaves and lemon rice that Logan informed them were called dolmades. The others seemed pleased with their dishes as well, so Veronica grinned approvingly at Logan and even offered him a bite of her honey and orange blossom baklava, which was very, very good.

During the lunch hour, she chatted with Meg about the plans with Lynn for the following day, then with Casey for what they were doing that afternoon. It was decided that Casey would ride to the Collective with her, but he told her that he would be staying overnight.

"Won't your parents look for you?" she asked, frowning.

"Doubt it. They won't look for me til Sunday afternoon when it's time to visit my grandmother in the hospital. They'll want a show of family solidarity then."

"That's cold," Mac commented.

"That's life," Casey replied, voice and eyes hard.

"Seriously," Wallace said, "you get that that's fucked up, right? Your parents are supposed to care about where you are on a Friday night. Or a Saturday night. Or, you know, like, always."

Casey shrugged. "That's 09er life."

"Speak for yourself," Meg said. "My parents need to know how often I need to go to the bathroom."

"My parents don't really care what I do so long as darling Duncan's prospects remain shiny and bright," Lilly chimed in.

"Mine mostly just want me to keep up an image for the paps," Logan said.

Wallace scowled. "You guys, all of that is fucked up."

Logan waved a dismissive hand. "Like Casey said, that's 09er life."

"Well, my dad's pretty great," Veronica said. Then, thoughtfully, she added, "Mom mostly forgets I exist the moment she smells tequila."

Mac took a swig of her cucumber-mint cooler (also courtesy of Logan) then set it down audibly. "Okay, guys, this is way too depressing for a Friday afternoon. You make me want to take you home and wrap you in blankets or something. You act like all this is normal, but it is seriously not okay."

"Nah, it's fine." Logan's voice was airy, but Veronica knew Mac's declaration had ensured she had a friend in the King of the 09ers. "Our negligent home life makes us better appreciate our friends."

"Which is why I couldn't let Logan here have Veronica in the divorce," Lilly said, throwing her arms around Veronica. "Who else would love me?"

She rolled her eyes. "Lils, like half the school asks 'how high' when you say 'jump.'"

"Only half? I must be slipping. Feed me your dessert thingie."

"Baklava."

"Baklava, shmacklava. This is me saying 'ahhhh.'" Lilly closed her eyes and opened her mouth. Veronica sighed and delivered a forkful to her lips for the other girl to bite off daintily.

Wallace snickered. "I get it now."

"Get what?" Logan asked.

"Why the Neptune revolutionary war ended so quickly."

"Oh?" Veronica asked with false idleness. "And why's that?"

"It's cause he—" Wallace pointed at Logan "—might be the king of the 09ers, and she—" he pointed at Lilly "—might be the Neptune High queen bee, but you—" he pointed at Veronica "—only have to look at them for them to come running."

"Huh." This from Casey. "You know, I'd never really thought of it that way, but that's pretty on point."

"Yeah?"

"Yes," Meg said, nodding. "I never really saw it before this, but the Fab Four takes their cues from Veronica. These past weeks without her, they've been a bit…"

"What?" Mac asked when the other girl paused.

"Rudderless," Meg finished.

"'M not a boat," Lilly said, before swallowing. "I'm a mermaid."

"More like a siren, leading ignorant men to their doom," Logan observed.

"Anything to contribute?" Mac asked Veronica.

She frowned. She hadn't counted on her new friends being quite so insightful, but part of her was delighted they were. They would fit right in with the Fab Four, she decided. "You're saying they're my minions?"

"We kind of all are," Meg said with a chuckle.

"That's a nice thought."

"Don't let the skank army hear about it, though," Logan said.

"Oh definitely," Lilly added lazily. "Can you imagine Madison Sinclair's face if we decided to announce to the world that we would bow only to Veronica?" She giggled. "On second thought, why don't we do that?"

"Let's not," Veronica said firmly.

"But Ronica—"

"I said no, Lilly."

Wallace nodded to himself when Lilly pouted but quieted, his gaze steady on Veronica, who was squished on the bench between Logan and Lilly. "I rest my case."

"Well," Logan said, rising. "I don't know about you guys, but _this_ minion has places to go, people to see."

"Thanks for lunch, bro," Casey said, and the others followed suit. Logan waved a hand to dismiss their thanks, and headed back into the school building.

"Where's he going?" Wallace asked. "The lunch bell isn't close to ringing, and he's in Physics with Mac and me next period, so I know he doesn't have homework to cram or anything like that."

"Probably got a chick stashed in a broom closet," Casey said with a shrug.

"No way," Lilly said, glancing at Veronica. "Logan would never."

"As his ex, you don't really get a say, though, do you?" Mac asked.

"I agree that Logan wouldn't sneak around with some unknown female," Meg said primly. Then Veronica noticed there was a devilish glint in her eyes. "A _known_ one, however, might not come with that problem."

"Ahhh, now that does make sense," Wallace said, rubbing an imaginary beard as he too looked at Veronica. "Yes, that makes a lot of sense."

Casey frowned. "To you, maybe. I started out completely clueless and remain so."

"That's okay, Casey-boo," Lilly said, grinning manically. "The rest of us will just talk mysteriously around you."

He shrugged. "Well, you'll tell me when you're ready to tell me, I guess."

Veronica tilted her head at him, her brow furrowed. "You've got a hell of a lot more chill than you used to, at least as far as I remembered."

"It's the Collective. I'm really learning to, uh, not sweat the small stuff, if you get my drift."

"Your drift being, you're not going to let Lilly play the 'I-know-something-you-don't-know' game with you."

The taller boy smiled. "Precisely."

"Whatever," Lilly said. "The rest of us are on the same page."

Mac raised a hand. "Not I, said the duck."

"Well then. Meg, Wallace, and I understand each other."

"I wouldn't have expected you to be as excited as you seem to be over this," Wallace said, confused.

"Oh please, I am the original believer in True LoVe. Veronica will verify. Aren't I?"

"To my chagrin." Just then, Veronica's phone rang. It was her generic ringtone, so she knew Logan was using one of the burner phones she kept him supplied with, for emergencies. "Guys, I've gotta take this."

"Take it, take it," Lilly said, grinning widely.

Veronica rolled her eyes at her sister, then gathered her things and left the table, heading across the quad as she hit the accept button and raised her phone to her ear. "I'll be there in three," she said briskly, then hung up.

Two minutes later, she was easing herself into the girls' bathroom. She barely had time to dig a sign out of her bag and stick it on the outside of the door, not to mention stopper the door from the inside, when she was pulled into a warm embrace. "I've been waiting to do this all day," Logan murmured.

And then he was kissing her and Veronica's knees were weakening. She flung her arms around him and pressed her body to his and he spun her around so he was leaning on the bathroom counter for support, holding her up against him. His hands roamed her back, her sides; they clutched at her clothes and hair.

Almost without realizing it, she'd wrapped one leg around his thigh and was straining to make up their height difference. Without breaking the kiss, he placed both hands on her legs, right under her butt, and hoisted her up onto the counter. This made their position less awkward, but after a moment he broke the liplock to place light kisses along her jaw and down to the pulse point in her neck. She shivered in delight. He swallowed her gasp with another kiss, but instead of deepening it, he pulled back, rested his forehead against hers.

Veronica's eyes snapped open. "What?" she asked. "I blockaded the door. I hung an out-of-order sign."

"This is wrong," Logan said, glancing around at the pale green walls of the bathroom. "I mean, a boy in a girl's bathroom. It's just—"

She grinned mischievously. "So wrong, it's right?"

His eyes lit in appreciation, and he whispered, "Yes." He bent his head for another kiss.

Eventually—that is, a long while later—he raised his head again, checked his watch. "Well, I am beyond tardy for my Physics class." He pressed another quick kiss to her lips, then grabbed his books from where he'd dropped them on one side of the bathroom counter. "If I remember right, time travel is not yet possible."

He turned, did a little skip, then headed toward the door. Veronica stared back at him for a moment, then hopped off the counter and intercepted him just as he was about to pull the stopper from the door. "Why don't you try a little petty corruption?" she asked with a smile.

"I'm sorry?" Logan said with a confused frown.

"That's okay. Stick with me, kid," Veronica said, grinning. She reached into her back pocket and pulled out a pad of slips. At his raised eyebrows, she waved them in front of his face. "Tardy excuse slips. Date-stamped. Untraceable. I know people."

"You know Wallace."

"I do know Wallace," she agreed amiably. She pulled the bathroom door open just a tad and peeked out. He started to do the same, and she turned to him with a look of faked shock, then shut the door again and leaned against it. "It's clear."

He looked down at her, a smile in his eyes. "So are you going to let me pass?"

"Not just yet." She tilted her face up. "Good luck in physics," she said, her voice saccharine.

"Thank you." His expression was wary now. Then his features creased with delight when she grabbed the front of his shirt and pulled him down to her. He chased her lips with his, but she turned away at the last moment.

"Remember," she said primly, then gave him a peck, making him laugh, "force equals mass times acceleration."

"Mmm." He kissed her thoroughly, making her gasp into his mouth.

She pulled away again. "Light is a particle that can exhibit properties of a wave."

Another kiss. "I'd learn more staying here with you."

He angled in for another kiss, but she pushed him away with a grin. "You've got a class to go to. And so do I."

"Spanish right?"

"Yeah."

" _Querida_ _…_ "

She rolled her eyes. "You probably shouldn't watch too many of those telenovelas with Mrs. Navarro in the afternoons."

He laughed. "I'm gonna miss you when I'm in Tijuana."

"I, on the other hand, will be living it up at the Moon Calf Collective, then thoroughly enjoying myself tomorrow with your mom and Meg."

"Don't forget you owe me a shirt."

"How can I? It'll be a highlight of the day for Meg and me."

"I'm guessing it won't be orange."

"Oh you can bet your life on that."

"What do you have against the color anyway?"

"Nothing. I even like it—in fruit juice. But not when it's worn by people who realy should know better."

He laughed, and she opened the door, then slapped his butt to urge him to head to class. "Keep me updated later, and tomorrow."

He smiled. "Always."

* * *

That evening, Veronica found herself lost in thought as she roasted marshmallows around a campfire alongside Casey and the other members of the Collective. She'd found herself charmed, actually charmed, by the people in it. And their get-rich-quick cash crop (which the situation with Troy had made her think might be marijuana or even cocaine, had turned out to be poinsettias.

On the whole, the Collective was shockingly wholesome, and its members warm and welcoming. She'd almost felt guilty for coming under false pretenses. Almost.

Still, it was good to see Casey at ease, good to see him laughing as he helped with meal preparation and cleanup. She'd never have thought to see him like this, a year ago.

"You're welcome to come back anytime," Josh told her as he, Ms. Mills, and Casey walked her to her car that night. "Our doors are always open."

"And you might want to think of bringing some of the others up here," Casey said with a small smile. He shrugged. "Mac and Wallace were right, earlier, that just because we're used to our parents being assholes doesn't mean it's right."

"Amen to that," Veronica said, and they all laughed. Then she sobered. "I'll think about it, okay? This does sound like a place that might just be good for them. Logan, Duncan, and Meg in particular." She smiled. "I'm not sure how Lilly would do with the whole campfires and helping with dinner thing."

He laughed. "Well, I would pay to see Lilly on potato peeling duty."

She chuckled along with him. "God, if we do, we'll have to get that on video, or no one would believe us!"

Before leaving, she accepted a hug from all three of them, plus a peck on the cheek from Casey. They urged her to drive carefully, and Casey asked her to send him a text when she arrived home. She assured him she would, and did so the moment she parked her car in the garage.

She smiled a little when she saw she'd missed 27 messages from Logan. At first he'd been sending her texts to check on her, and then it had devolved to a no-holds-barred rant against Troy, who kept complaining about the Neptune High girls in general, and Veronica Mars in particular.

She texted him a message encouraging him to be strong. And laughed when he responded with a row of hearts and XOs. Still, one of them was going to have to be the responsible one, she decided. So she reminded him to delete the schmoopy stufff from his phone and to be careful.

 _Fine_ , he texted back. _Done._ She could all but see the pout on his face.

So she sent him a message of her own, adding a few XOs herself.

She went to sleep with a smile on her face.

* * *

AUTHOR'S NOTE: Another late post, I know and I'm so sorry! But April is determined to kick my ass, apparently, with work and health issues. Also, I got a new puppy who demands a lot of attention! Hope you still enjoyed this chapter, though! It's unbetaed and barely edited, as I wanted to get this out right away. Feel free to point out mistakes, and I'll do my best to correct them.


	24. Living in a Material World

**Chapter 24: Living in a Material World**

* * *

SUMMARY: Veronica goes on a girls' day out and it goes pretty well.

* * *

Just after dawn on Saturday morning, Veronica got up and went out for a quick jog before driving downtown to do a one-on-one session with her Krav Maga coach, a weekly appointment she'd scheduled earlier than usual with a mind to the 9 AM meeting time at the Echolls house.

After a quick shower at the gym, she checked her phone to find several texts from a grumpy Logan. She also spotted a text from Meg saying her mom would drop her off at the Echolls place on her way to church, and another one from Weevil telling her to meet him outside the Echolls service entrance gate.

With time running short, she opted for drive thru coffee and pastries instead of a sit-down breakfast. She ordered five coffees to go, plus a box containing half a dozen glazed apple crumb muffins, then headed over to the Echolls estate, pulling around the back to where Weevil was leaning against a beat-up sedan parked outside the service gate.

She parked along the curb and, seeing a small dark head inside the car, grabbed two muffins from the box as well as one of the cups of coffee.

"Vee," Weevil greeted her as she approached, accepting the cup of coffee with a smile. " _Gracias._ "

" _De nada_." She handed over a muffin as well, then pitched her voice a little louder as she said, "And if that's Ofelia in the car, it's good I had an extra muffin with me."

"What kind of muffin?" The little girl leaned out of the open window, her high-pitched voice conveying her curiosity.

"Glazed apple crumb. Very yummy."

"Gimme!"

Veronica laughed and started to hand it over, but Weevil stopped her. "What do we say?"

"Please may I have a muffin, V'ronica!"

The blonde girl grinned. "Of course, Ofelia!" She passed the muffin through the window.

"Thank you!" The little girl managed to get the words out before taking a big bite.

"You're welcome." She turned to see the biker looking at her with a weird expression on his face. "What?"

"Ofelia's pretty shy. She normally doesn't care for you rich white girls." He paused. "Lilly scares the shit out of her."

"Lilly scares the shit out of people twice Ofelia's size," Veronica said, amused when this elicited a smirk and a nod from the boy she knew was Lilly Kane's current main squeeze.

"True dat."

"So what did you need to meet about? I thought you and your boys were all set for the big op later."

Weevil shrugged. "We'll get the car, no problem, and we can stow it at my uncle's shop. The drugs, though, I'm not sure I want my boys handling. We get caught with that shit—"

She frowned. "You and I both know the chances of that happening are pretty low."

He huffed. "Fine. I've heard some rumors one or two of my guys may not feel quite so much animosity toward the Fitzpatricks as I previously thought. And if drugs are in the picture, it might be the apple in the garden for them." He toasted her with the remaining half of his muffin.

"Huh. I hadn't heard that. You want me to look into it, see what I can find out?"

He fluttered ridiculously long lashes at her. "Would I owe you a favor?"

She thought about it. "Seeing as you're doing me one, I guess we can say this cancels my favor out."

He smirked. "Deal." They shook on it. But then he frowned. "But info only, you hear? I don't want you messing with the Fitzpatricks."

"Pfft. Like they could—"

"I'm serious, _chica_. My boys are one thing, but the Fitzpatricks are a whole other kind of animal. Why do you think I keep our business separate?"

"Territory?"

"Yeah, well, that. But the Irish are into things I don't want my boys messing with. You'd do best to stay out of it. So info only, y'hear?"

"All right, all right. Jeez, you're making me think you care or something."

"Lilly'd tan my hide if you got into trouble, and she found out it was because of me."

She hiked an eyebrow at that. "I didn't realize things had gotten quite so serious between you."

The biker shrugged uncomfortably. "I'm her booty call. I know it. I'm not the type to try and hold on to a girl like that too close. But Lilly Kane is good at what she does. Now that you're friends again, you get messed up, and that booty don't come callin', if you get my drift."

"I do." Still, she suspected that despite his bravado, his feelings for her sister ran deeper than he was willing to say. And maybe she and he were starting to be friends outside of their mutually beneficial exchange of favors. "Anyway, I can deal with the steroids. I've got an idea on what to do about them that your boys probably wouldn't be the best tools for."

He held up both hands in a position of surrender. "I don't wanna know."

She smirked. "I wouldn't tell you anyway. Now, anything else before I head on over to the front gate?"

"Naw. And I'd better get Ofelia to her dance class. Thanks for the coffee and the muffins."

"You're welcome. Bye, Ofelia!"

"Bye, V'ronica!"

* * *

She was right on time as she pulled around to the front gate of the Echolls property. Meg was climbing out of her car, and Veronica stopped to wave to Mrs. Manning and Lizzie, then pushed open her passenger door to let the other girl in so they could pull up into the driveway when the gate opened.

She drove up to the gate and punched in her code. "You have your own security code to Logan's house?" Meg asked, eyebrows raised.

Veronica shrugged. "All the Fab Four do. We've been in and out of each other's houses enough that we've got codes to each other's gates."

Even without a code, she knew ways to get on the Echolls estate without having her presence logged on the system. She'd spent enough nights checking on Logan—and too many of them helping with the aftermath of Aaron's rages—that she'd made sure she could always get to him if he needed her. Even so, she knew there were many times she hadn't been able to get to him, either because he hadn't alerted her to the situation or she just hadn't been able to get there in time.

Shaking off the dark direction this line of thinking sunk her mood into, she pulled into her usual parking spot, then offered the other girl a muffin and coffee. "I got one for Lynn and Mrs. Navarro too."

Meg smiled. "Thanks, then. Mrs. Navarro? As in Weevil Navarro?"

"His grandmother has been the Echolls' housekeeper since they moved to Neptune."

"Ah. Why don't I help you carry stuff inside?"

Veronica was surprised to find Mrs. Echolls bright-eyed and smiling in the kitchen when Mrs. Navarro let them inside. Over the years she'd gotten used to Logan's mom sporting dark glasses and being a little on the sluggish side of a morning, often with the hair of the dog in one hand and a bottle of aspirin nearby. She'd seen her own mother in similar conditions often enough to know what that meant.

But the Lynn Echolls who greeted the girls was far removed from her usual. Well, she was dressed impeccably as she always was, despite obviously opting for a casual look with a woven open-neck steel blue blouse with three-quarter sleeves, designer jeans that made her long legs look like they went on for miles, and strappy Jimmy Choos with just a bit of sparkle on them. She took the coffee Veronica handed her but declined a muffin from the box Meg held, saying they could offer it to the driver instead.

"I don't quite have the metabolism you girls do," she explained with a laugh as she got up and grabbed her bag from the counter. Long exposure to Lilly's love of fashion had Veronica identifying the tan number as an Alexander McQueen Novak. "Are you ready to head out? If we leave now, we should get to Beverly Center before 11. I thought we'd do a little shopping and then grab lunch at Piccolino's—Veronica, Logan reminded me yesterday how much you love Italian food, not that I don't know well and good how much pasta you can put away, so I went ahead and made reservations for the three of us."

Veronica laughed. "Logan likes to joke about the black hole that is my stomach."

"Oh, to be so young and able to look at a tiramisu without gaining five pounds!"

"But you look great, Mrs. Echolls," Meg said earnestly.

"And I work hard at it, or Mr. Echolls and my stylist will know why," Lynn says, a slight edge to her voice that vanishes in the next moment. "So, ready to go, girls?"

Both girls responded in the affirmative, and after Veronica left a muffin and coffee with Mrs. Navarro, they piled into the limo and spent the next 90 minutes chatting about fashion in a way that had Veronica missing her big sister just a bit.

The fashion talk continued as they shopped the stores at Beverly Center; Lynn mentioned she'd booked a stylist for the afternoon but thought they should just look around this morning. Veronica was intrigued by the ideas for her wardrobe, which seemed to pair almost militaristic utilitarianism when it came to shoes, jackets, and bottoms and touches of something brighter or more feminine for her tops. Meg and Lynn seemed to be in accord, for the most part; they'd hit it off right away, and Veronica was glad to see it.

She tried on outfits obligingly, and while her two companions seemed focused on treating her like a teenager-sized Barbie doll, she managed to talk them into trying a few outfits as well. She was happy to agree to adding more statement tees to her wardrobe, as well as a variety of tops and boots. Bootleg jeans and cargo pants she readily said she'd be happy to buy, but she gave a hard no on pocketless jeans and UGGs.

"I'm delighted you find them as awful as I do, dear," Lynn said approvingly.

"I would have judged you harshly if you'd gotten them," Meg added.

Bags in hand, Veronica stuck her tongue out at them. "My new look is not about fuzzy boots, thank you very much."

"I agree wholeheartedly," Logan's mom said, smiling. "Now, who's up for lunch?"

Both girls were hungry by this time, so they happily piled into the waiting limo for the short drive to a brightly lit Italian trattoria. A smiling and somewhat starstruck waiter took their order; they agreed to share a carpaccio and a salad to start while Veronica went for the carbonara, Meg for the risotto, and Lynn for the tortellini. Veronica was already eyeing the Belgium Chocolate Mousse for dessert.

No sooner had their drinks and antipasti been served when Lynn leaned forward, an avaricious gleam in her eye. "So tell me, Veronica," she said, her voice low, "what's going on between you and my son?"

Veronica choked on a bite of carpaccio, buying some time by sipping water and glaring at a widely grinning Meg Manning. "Uh," she said intelligently, her face bright red.

"My, my, my, it's not often you see Veronica Mars at a loss for words," Meg observed.

"You both know he just broke up with Lilly, don't you? You know, Lilly Kane, my best friend since kindergarten?"

Mrs. Echolls shrugged. "She's since moved on to Eli Navarro, if Mrs. Navarro's grumpy huffs at the mention of anything Kane are anything to go by."

Meg's gaze was sharp as she turns it on Logan's mom. "You're very well-informed, Mrs. Echolls," she said admiringly.

"I'm very well-invested in seeing Logan and Veronica make a go of it," Lynn retorted. "What portmanteau should we use for them? Lonica? Vegan?" She winced at that one.

"I've heard Lilly refer to them as LoVe," Meg offered helpfully.

 _Traitor_ , Veronica mouthed at her from across the table. The other blonde only smiled smugly.

Lynn clapped her hands. "That's perfect! And if she's supporting the two of you, I don't see any reason you should have any objections to letting Logan woo you, Veronica."

"Woo me?"

"Oh, definitely you should let my son woo you properly," the actress said in a haughty tone that had Meg giggling. "I'll make sure the boy pulls out all the stops."

Veronica covered her face with her hands. "Please don't."

"I'm pretty sure he's been trying to, Mrs. Echolls," Meg said after a moment. "He's not exactly subtle about who's captured his attention."

"Can we please go back to talking about UGGs?" Veronica moaned.

They didn't, of course. In fact, Lynn and Meg spent most of the lunch teasing Veronica about Logan and speculating on the depth of his affections. The tiny blonde ate her frustrations, finishing off not just her own meal but Lynn's tortellini as well, before being thoroughly distracted by the chocolate mousse, which was as good as the waiter said it was and more.

"If my son weren't already head over heels for you, he'd be instantly in love after watching you eat dessert," Lynn commented with a laugh after listening to Veronica moan over her first bite of divinity. Surprisingly the actress had kept to a single glass of white wine during their meal.

The remark had Veronica moaning for another reason altogether. She pointed her spoon at Meg. "Why don't you bug some other blonde about her love life for a change, Mrs. Echolls?" she asked sweetly.

The older woman laughed but obliged, and pretty soon they were discussing Meg's prospects among the boys at Neptune High. Veronica played the good sister card and mentioned she'd seen Duncan Kane watching Meg during lunch periods since the previous school year. She was gratified to see a spark of interest in the other girl's eyes.

Lynn insisted on getting the bill, waving away the girls' thanks by saying she hadn't had so much fun in ages. "Plus, we need to be fortified for this afternoon's round of shopping!"

Veronica was about to reply when she saw Meg's eyes widen and Lynn's face tense. She turned to see three people emerging from what appeared to be a private room and all but groaned when she recognized Aaron Echolls among them.

She turned wide eyes toward Logan's mom. "I thought he was out of the country for the weekend?" she offered hesitantly.

"So did I," Lynn said, her tone tense. Then, seeming to recall who she was with, she smiled at the two girls. "I guess he had a day off or something. He was only up in Vancouver for a shoot."

For a moment it seemed like Aaron wouldn't notice them, but the man with him glanced in their direction, then did a double take. "Lynn!" he said, with a wide smile and a wave. He turned to his companions and said something, and all three of them headed toward the women's table.

"Ohmigod, it's Conner Larkin," Meg whispered in awe just as Veronica was trying to remember why he looked so familiar. Ah. That was why. The actor was Hollywood's current teen heartthrob, being just a couple years older than they were.

Lynn had put her "Hollywood face" on, as Logan had once called it. "Conner," she said in warm tones that hid any strain she felt completely. Veronica mused idly that Logan's mom was _much_ better at acting than his sperm donor was. "How wonderful to see you." She rose from her seat to receive air kisses from the young actor before turning to her husband. "Aaron, darling—"

"Lynn, I didn't know you'd be here today," Aaron said in exaggerated surprise.

"I mentioned I was taking Veronica and her friend Meg out shopping this weekend, didn't I?" Lynn said, and Veronica would have missed the tremor in her voice if she hadn't been listening for it.

"Ah, I must have forgotten," Aaron said blithely, then turned to the two girls, who had risen as well. "Veronica, so wonderful to see you. And—Meg, was it?"

"Yes, Mr. Echolls, Meg Manning," the other girl said, smiling. "I go to school with Veronica and Logan."

"Wonderful, wonderful," Aaron said, smiling broadly. "Let me introduce you to my companions! I'm sure you know who Conner is. Conner, this is Veronica Mars—only daughter of Keith Mars of Mars Investigations and Security, you know—and her friend, uh—"

"Meg Manning," Conner said with a smile, bowing over the girl's hands as he greeted them in turn. Veronica thought him a little over the top, but she liked him a little better for remembering Meg's name… and for interrupting Aaron, who was obviously annoyed over having his thunder stolen.

"Meg, right," Aaron said with a patently false chuckle. "And this is Ashley Woods. We were all up in Vancouver this week shooting for my latest film, but we got an unexpected day off from shooting and decided to spend it here."

As opposed to down in Neptune with his family. Veronica could only be glad, and looking at the woman standing at his side, just a smidge closer than might be considered polite, she realized why. The chestnut-haired actress had been a rising teen star a few years ago, but her career had plateaued recently. She couldn't have been older than 21 or 22, and it was obvious she was sleeping with her co-star who was old enough to be her father, Veronica realized with distaste.

"I hope you're enjoying yourself," Lynn said with well-disguised venom.

"Of course, of course. And Logan's back home hanging out with his friends, I presume?"

"He said he'd be helping one of our friends this weekend, Mr. Echolls," Veronica said, carefully injecting her voice and expression with a hint of ingenuous helpfulness. "He'd run into the same kind of trouble he helped me with the past couple of weeks, so Logan offered to help him out."

"That's my son," Aaron said proudly to his two companions. "Always willing to go to the wall for his friends. I'll tell him to let me know if he needs any help."

"I'm sure he'd appreciate it, Mr. Echolls," Veronica lied. "He's keeping me updated anyway."

"Excellent," the actor said, smiling before making a show of checking his watch. "Well, Conner, Ashley, we'd better head out if we don't want to be late. We've got a meeting with a couple of marketing execs."

Conner frowned. "I don't remember—"

"Oh, snap! It must've been just Aaron and myself, Conner," the actress said in saccharine tones.

"Huh. Guess I'll let you guys go ahead then. I'll stay here and see these three lovely ladies out."

"Such a gentleman!" Aaron said mockingly. But he turned to Lynn and said, "It was a lovely surprise to see you, my dear. I'll call you later."

Lynn nodded and dutifully kissed her husband. "Of course, darling. Although I've promised to see the girls home after dinner so their parents wouldn't worry."

"Great, great," Aaron said. "Well then, I'll leave you ladies in Conner's capable hands. Veronica, do send your dad my regards. Maggie, it was lovely to meet you."

Meg didn't correct the actor on her name. Not that it would have mattered, as the actor was already leading his costar toward the exit. Veronica quickly sent Logan a text warning him he might hear from Aaron this afternoon.

Lynn sighed. "I guess the paps will be outside now."

Conner smiled and gestured for them to sit back down. "Then perhaps you could tell your driver to meet you at the private exit."

The actress nodded, gratitude plain on her face. "Thanks, Conner. And do join us. The girls and I are out shopping today, and it's the least I can do to offer you a ride."

The actor looked at the three of them thoughtfully. "You know, I've just had any plans effectively canceled," he said, solidifying Veronica's suspicions about the flimsy nature of Aaron's excuse for leaving. "Could you perhaps use some company? I'm happy to serve as your beast of burden."

"Hmm." The actress bit back a smile. "I suppose we could use a male perspective on some of the outfits we're getting Veronica. What do you say, girls?"

Veronica groaned. "I'm not the only one buying clothes today," she said. "Also I've been perfectly happy with the female perspective thus far."

But Meg turned pleading eyes in her direction, mouthing _it's Conner Larkin_ with appropriate eyebrow movements to convey her giddy excitement. And Conner got in on the action too, turning puppy dog eyes on her, although after years of Logan's version, she was fairly immune to his.

Still. "Fine," she said. "I guess those muscles might as well be good for something."

"Ow, my heart!" Conner said, placing a hand over his chest in such a way as to show off the biceps straining against the sleeve of his black button down shirt.

"More like, ow, your ego." Lynn was laughing as she turned to Veronica. "I knew I liked you."

Connor turned out to be great company, donning a baseball cap and shades that did little to hide his identity, though Veronica gave him points for trying. He even ended up joining them at the nail spa, which was a little bizarre, but the guy was happy to talk fashion and dish up juicy gossip on Hollywood celebrities that had Meg giggling and Veronica rolling her eyes and making snarky remarks all afternoon. He even seemed interested in Neptune High drama.

"You know, I've known Logan a while, and it's funny he's never introduced me to his friends before," he observed as they climbed back into the limo at the end of the day, their nails all spiffy and polished after a session at a nail salon. "Well, except maybe for… Declan? No, that's not it."

"Duncan," Veronica said.

"Right, Duncan. Nice guy, if fairly quiet."

"Oh, Logan and Duncan have been best friends since they were tiny tots," Lynn said smiling. "In fact, their relationship was one of the reasons we decided on Neptune when we were looking for a house outside LA."

Conner nodded. "I remember."

"Duncan's sister Lilly is Logan's ex," Meg said helpfully. "And Veronica's best friend."

"I guess there aren't a lot of degrees of separation between folks in Neptune," Conner said thoughtfully.

 _You have no idea_ , Veronica thought, wondering what her secret siblings were up to. "It's a pretty small town," was all she said aloud.

"But we love it," Lynn said, and both girls agreed.

"Well then," Conner said with a grin. "Since you ladies have been kind enough to let me tag along with you all afternoon, what say you let me take you out to dinner? My treat!"

"What do you think, girls?" Lynn asked.

"I'd love it!" Meg gushed, still star struck after hours of shopping and watching the guy getting his nails buffed one chair over at the nail salon.

"You'd better prepare your wallet. I eat like a cow," Veronica warned him. "Y'know, with four stomachs."

Meg giggled and Lynn let out a loud laugh. "I can vouch for that," the older woman said.

"No problemo, my last movie was a box office hit, don't you know."

"You've mentioned it a few times," Veronica reminded him, not particularly kindly.

He grinned. "And of course you're gonna call me out on it."

"I'm very bad for the ego," she informed him gravely.

"But good for the heart."

Lynn frowned. "Down, boy, I'm set on her as my daughter-in-law."

Meg squealed, and Veronica turned bright red. "Mrs. Echolls!"

The actress just patted her arm. "You're too smart not to have noticed, dear. And I think 'Veronica Echolls' has a nice ring to it, don't you?"

Conner gave a dramatic sigh. "Well, that does it. You have to come to dinner with me now, to soothe my wounded pride." The three females laughed and agreed. "And to celebrate the upcoming nuptials."

Veronica was gratified to hear him yelp when she delivered a vicious punch to one of the biceps he was so proud of.

* * *

 **AUTHOR'S NOTE:** So I am MONTHS late on this update, and well do I know it. Life and work went sideways for a while, with a team member losing his wife in a sudden tragedy, a family member being hospitalized twice, and another family member needing a lot of emotional support for a personal crisis—all right in the middle of summer, which is the busiest season for someone who works at the beach. So. Weather's turning, and stuff's starting to level off. Here's to hoping I can get back to regular updates from here on out. Also, thank you to the ever-awesome Irma66 for the beta read!


	25. Try My Hardest Just to Forget Everything

**Chapter 25: Try My Hardest Just to Forget Everything**

* * *

SUMMARY: Veronica, Lynn, and Meg head back to Neptune. Aaron's an ass (of course). So is Troy (also of course). Plans are carried out.

* * *

Conner took them to a snazzy sushi bar where he and Veronica got into a debate on martial arts. The actor had been taking eskrima lessons and had since become an aficionado of the discipline, while Veronica stood by Krav Maga, which she had been studying for eight years by this point. He was impressed upon learning she held a brown belt, but not sufficiently impressed to give up his position.

"Jason Bourne used eskrima."

"Jason Bourne is a fictional character."

"It's Jason Bourne."

"You're such a fanboy."

"It's Jason Bourne."

"Also, he didn't _just_ use eskrima. He incorporated other disciplines into his fighting style."

"Still. Jason Bourne."

"I don't think repeating his name does anything to argue your point."

"Jason. Bourne."

"Veronica," Meg said, humor all but curling her vowels. "I think he's going to just keep saying that until you give up."

"Jason Bourne," Conner said, nodding.

"You're ridiculous." Silence. Veronica could hear Lynn stifling a laugh. "Fine. Eskrima is as badass as Jason Bourne."

He smirked. "Thank you."

The paparazzi caught up with them as they were exiting the restaurant, but Veronica thought they'd gotten lucky going six hours with two Hollywood celebrities without getting mobbed, so she counted it a win nevertheless. They ran the gauntlet and piled into the limo, where Lynn offered to drop Conner off at a hotel, club or other destination of his choice.

"I think I'll go home," he said. "I've got a place in Laguna Beach, so it shouldn't be too far out of your way."

"No, I think it's right down our route," Lynn agreed before having him give the driver his address.

They chatted as the limo made its way down south to Laguna Beach, pulling up in front of a hilltop house made of steel and glass.

"It's been wonderful seeing you again, Conner," Lynn said as he said his goodbyes to the group.

He grinned. "Sure thing, Auntie Lynn."

She rolled her eyes and swatted as his arm with a laugh. "When will you stop calling me that?"

"Never." Turning to Meg and Veronica, he shot them a wide smile. "Ladies, it's been a pleasure. I hope to see you again sometime in the future. Even if it's only so you can beat my ego down and make me follow you around carrying your bags."

Veronica rolled her eyes. "You volunteered for it. Plus you took us to that store where we ended up paying my shirt-debt to Logan."

"Hearing how you incurred your 'shirt debt' was worth it."

"Still, you could've just spent the afternoon flirting with fan girls or something."

He shook his head. "This was better." He got out of the limo and saluted them. "Ladies. Auntie Lynnie. Drive safe!"

They waited in the limo while he let himself in through his gate, then the driver pulled away from the curb and headed toward Neptune.

"Why does he call you Auntie Lynn?" Veronica asked curiously.

"Oh, Conner started his career when he was around four or five. His first job was on the soap opera where I caught my big break, _After Sundown._ He played the son of my screen sister, who had died tragically in a coma from complications from a car accident after giving birth to him. I had to fight my cruel socialite mother for custody, at one point losing my memory after I survived an attack from an assassin who later became my lover."

The girls laugh at Lynn's tone of exaggerated disbelief. "So Conner and Logan are sort-of cousins?" Meg asked, giggling.

Lynn smiled. "I guess you could say that! Anyway, thank you for letting him come with us. He's a nice boy, but we don't really do lunch or dinner anymore as the tabloids go wild speculating about me being a cougar and unfaithful to Aaron when we go out alone."

Veronica could just imagine how that came across with Aaron, and she bit her lip to keep from saying anything. They were halfway back to Neptune when Lynn's phone rang. She frowned as she checked the caller ID.

"Is it all right if I take this? It's my publicist."

"Of course!"

Lynn answered the phone. After a quick chat with the publicist, she suddenly stilled and grew very, very pale. Eventually, she just said "I see" and then thanked the person on the other end of the line before hanging up and staring blankly in front of her.

Veronica frowned. "Are you all right, Mrs. Echolls?" The woman didn't respond, so Veronica reached over and placed her hand on the other woman's hand. "Mrs. Echolls?"

Her head snapped back and she looked at Veronica. "Oh, yes, sorry. I'm all right."

"What's happened?"

The actress just shook her head. "Nothing, just some nasty tabloid gossip about Aaron and that woman you met earlier. You know how it is."

Veronica didn't, not really, since Lianne's affair with Jake wasn't exactly public knowledge and probably would never be, but she nodded along anyway.

Meg smiled weakly at the older woman. "You know most of the stuff they report isn't true anyway."

Lynn's lips twisted bitterly. "Yes, but I also know my husband likes his women looking like they're half his age or younger."

Veronica glanced toward the front of the limo, glad to see that the privacy screen was up. "Can my dad or I help?" she asked in a low voice. "You know what my dad does."

Logan's mom smiled. "Advise CEOs and senators on matters of security?"

"Among other things. 'Marriage' security is another type of security he helps with. He likes to say, 'If your partner isn't cheating, you get peace of mind. If your partner _is_ cheating, you get leverage in case you wanna do something about it.'"

"I know. Thank you, dear."

Veronica's brow furrowed. "Will you at least think about it? I know Logan worries about you." _I know he takes Aaron_ _'s blows for you_.

"He shouldn't."

 _No, he shouldn_ _'t._ "Tell him that."

"I do. It doesn't seem to help much."

Veronica snorted. "So will you think about it? Dad'll do it pro bono, for friendship. You don't even have to use anything he finds. It'll just give you something to fall back on, knowing you have it."

"Ah—all right. I'll think about it. Thank you."

Veronica smiled. "It's nothing, Mrs. Echolls."

The rest of the ride south was fairly quiet. Veronica updated the Fab Four, reassuring Logan that his mom was doing all right but probably could use a hug when he got home. He thanked her for trying to talk her into getting Keith to help with Aaron's infidelities, but warned her it would probably come to nothing.

His resignation, so clear even through a few lines of text, broke her heart.

It always did.

When they got back to the Echolls estate, Lynn bid the two girls goodbye, saying they should do it again sometime soon, maybe this time shopping for Meg. They assured her they would, and Veronica tried not to notice that Logan's mom went straight in the direction of one of the rooms with a liquor cabinet the moment they started out the door.

Veronica and Meg walked silently to Veronica's car; she'd offered to take the other girl home tonight. When they both climbed into her SUV, Meg turned to her. "What was that about, offering her your dad's help?"

"You know my dad runs MIS, right?"

"Who doesn't?"

"Well, that I stands for investigations. As in private investigations. And one of their most profitable areas involves gathering material for wives and other domestic partners or dependents to use in a divorce, custody, or emancipation bid. Although my dad is always quick to say his reports don't show bias one way or the other, regardless of who hires him, and he always does the legally and morally responsible thing."

"What does that mean?"

Veronica pursed her lips, trying to think of an example. Fortunately, one came to mind. "All right. No names, but a high-profile businessman suspected his much younger wife of cheating on him, so he hired MIS to follow her around and get the money shot if there was one to be had."

"Money shot?"

"You know, a kiss, or something more incriminating, to show that the other party is cheating."

"Got it. So what happened?"

"The investigator did get the money shot and delivered it to the client, but he got a hinky feeling and followed his gut like my dad is always telling his investigators to. He parked outside the client's house and caught the whole confrontation on camera, including the way the client started hitting his wife."

"Oh my God. What did he do?"

"Called the cops and hopped the back gate to restrain the guy. Said later he'd forgotten to hand over some paperwork or whatnot and ended up driving by the client's place to drop it off when he heard the wife screaming and crying. The camera turned out to be a tiny spycam in his lapel pin that he'd forgotten to deactivate, or so he said."

"That's great, Veronica, really great."

"Mmhmm. Dad gave the guy a bonus and a commendation for his file, so I'm pretty sure he's golden whenever he's next up for promotion. And with those gut instincts, he's a shoo-in if he applies for the special investigations team."

"What's that?"

"Oh, it's the team that handles cases that have to do with domestic violence, child abuse or neglect, that sort of thing. I interned with them for three weeks this summer; it was pretty eye-opening." And it had given her a lot of ideas for helping Logan deal with his situation in a way that might be admissible in court.

"I didn't know there were whole teams of investigators that did that." Meg's eyes were wide, but there was a curious note to her voice Veronica mentally filed away.

She shrugged. "Dad lets them do a lot of pro-bono and pro-rated work, especially working with certain government offices like the welfare department and that sort of thing. They don't bring in as much cash as some of the other teams, but Dad says they make up for it in what he calls 'soul capital.'"

"That's amazing, Veronica." Meg paused. "Hey, do you think your dad would let me interview one of the guys from that department for my term paper for Government class? I want to try a new angle, I'm sure everyone else is gonna be doing the same boring stuff."

"Huh. Sure, I guess. I mean, I wouldn't think he'd have a problem with it. In fact, I can introduce you around sometime next week, if you like."

"You're a lifesaver, Veronica Mars!"

"Yeah, yeah. So everyone keeps saying. Monday or Tuesday, then?"

"Hmm. Maybe it'd be better for later in the week. I'm sure we'll be busy on Monday, at least."

"Huh? With what?"

Meg laughed at Veronica's confused expression. "Neptune High is gonna flip its lid when they get those paparazzi pics of us with Conner Larkin!"

"Oh. Right. Crap."

"Oh, yes. And when they find out we met Aaron Echolls too, that'll just add fuel to the fire."

Veronica frowned. "Why? He's Logan's dad. Most of us have met him at one point or another."

"But not in Hollywood! And not with Conner Larkin! Besides, a lot of girls think Mr. Echolls is really hot."

Veronica made a face and thought she might have puked in her mouth a little bit. "Why? That's so creepy. He's so old." _Not to mention an abusive asshole_.

Meg snorted. "I know, right? But you should hear Madison, Shelly, Caitlyn, and Kimmy talking about how hot Logan's dad is at lunchtime or before cheerleading practice."

"Pretty sure my brains would melt and exit through my ears if I had to listen to those four on a regular basis."

"Veronica, have I said how much I love this opinionated new you?"

"No, but do continue. In fact, go ahead and change the topic to anything that has nothing to do with Oscar-winning creepazoid Aaron Echolls or the skank squad who love him."

Meg's laughter lasted the rest of the way to her house.

* * *

When Veronica got home, she found her dad and a few of his Neptune cronies in the game room playing poker.

"Well I guess it's true what they say about what happens when the cat's away," she said, watching them from the doorway.

"Veronica!" All four men in the room turned to grin at her. She could tell that her dad and her godfather, Cliff McCormack, were neck and neck and Don and Bill were dangerously close to being down to their last chips.

She moved into the room to kiss her dad on the cheek. "How was shopping with Lynn?"

"Good. My credit card got a lot of exercise today."

He laughed. "That's what it's there for, honey."

Bill let out a shudder. "Please don't have a conversation like that when in the presence of my wife and daughters. It gives me chills to think of how much they would buy. A whole day's worth of shopping in LA is the kiss of death to a small-town fire chief's credit rating."

"Not to mention how your girls would react if they found out Veronica had dinner with Conner Larkin," Keith said smugly.

Don frowned. "Conner Larkin? What were you doing with him?"

"He's a friend of Mrs. Echolls', and he took all of us to dinner, but I think he just wanted an excuse to hang out with her. Apparently they go way back. How did you even know about it, father of mine?"

"A little birdie told me."

Cliff let out a deep chuckle. "The little birdie's name is Inga, because you know how much she loves the gossip channels. Apparently you were photographed and she recognized you."

Don's frown deepened. "Why does Inga tell you these things before she tells me?" he whined.

"Maybe if you chatted her up more?" Veronica suggested. "Or maybe if you brought her coffee and pastries sometimes. You know, asked about her dogs, her knitting, that kind of thing."

"Forget it. If I ask about her dog, she'll try to foist a puppy on me the next time it has a litter. If I ask about her knitting, she might take it to mean I actually want one of those god-awful sweaters she makes."

"The one she made me is pretty comfy," Veronica said. "Even if it was very, very pink."

"Count yourself fortunate," Keith told her. "The one she made me had stripes of puce and this distinct shade of yellow—"

"Like your pee after you've ODed on vitamin C," Don agreed, grimacing. "She used the same color on mine that one Christmas, but with red stripes instead. I looked like I was auditioning to be Ronald McDonald."

The men broke out into chuckles.

"You want in, sweetie?" Bill asked, gesturing to the table in front of him.

"Oh dear god, do _not_ invite Veronica to join. I'm actually winning for once."

"Cliffie, you're so mean," Veronica said in her best "Amber" voice, scrunching her face into her cutest pout. "At least Bill offered."

"Veronica, I'm not mean, I just have a healthy sense of self-preservation. You're a fucking shark."

"Hey," Keith said mildly. "No swearing at my daughter."

"Thanks, guys, but I'll sit this one out. I may yet have to go out and rescue Logan Echolls from strangling someone."

"Always good to prevent murder when you can," the Balboa county sheriff observed, eyeing his cards and his small stack of chips.

"If it's Troy Vandegraff, I think your Uncle Cliff here can get him off with justifiable homicide," Keith added.

"What's this now?" Cliff was frowning.

"I'll leave you guys to it," she said, smiling. "Dad can fill you in. By the way, will you be in tomorrow, Donny?"

"I dunno, Ms. Mars, will I have reason to be?"

"Possibly, possibly."

Keith raised an eyebrow. "Make that a 'probably,' Don."

The sheriff sighed. "Fine, Mars. But not before nine. I know you're one of those freaks who gets up with the sun even on a weekend, but there are limits to how far I'm willing to bend for you."

"Sure, Donny. In fact, why don't I go over to your place and you can decide if it's worth leaving home for?"

He flicked a suspicious look her way and rubbed his chin thoughtfully. "Will there be doughnuts?"

"Yup! Who do you take me for?"

"And does this have anything to do with certain birds in a bush you mentioned before?"

"Yep." She popped the P.

"Fine. But coffee and doughnuts are a requirement."

"Got it."

Cliff and Bill were watching the exchange with identical expressions of bemusement. "What's that all about?" Bill asked.

Cliff turned to Keith. "If my capacities as a lawyer should be required, you'll call me."

"Absolutely," Keith said. "You know I have you on speed dial and I made you her godfather for this very reason."

Don turned to his former mentor. "You don't want to know what this is about?"

"Nope." Keith popped the P just as his daughter had. "Veronica knows to call me in before she can get in over her head. Anything she can and wants to handle on her own, I'd rather not know about."

"Why not?" Bill was obviously baffled. But then again, the fire chief was notoriously protective of his daughters.

"Plausible deniability," Veronica and Keith said together. Veronica laughed. "See you in the morning, Pop!"

"Drive safely, sugarplum!"

As she left the room she heard Don say, "I swear I'm gonna turn gray or go bald prematurely and that girl will be the reason for it."

Her father replied, "Plausible deniability, Donnyboy. It's what's saved what little I have left of my hair."

"You're practically bald!"

"Yes, but 'practically' is not 'completely.'"

She smirked all the way up to her room.

* * *

She showered and changed and then settled at her desk to check her emails. Just then, her phone pinged.

 _Rescue me, please. Troy has bitched about you all day and even my vaunted self-control is starting to fray._ Logan, of course.

 _Down, boy._

They exchanged text updates. Upon learning they weren't set to leave Tijuana until at least midnight, she decided to take a nap, setting her alarm for 2 AM. He wished her happy dreams, and she was out like a light in the next instant.

When she woke up, she texted him to ask where they were.

 _Remind me never to visit Tijuana without a Ready Lane Pass. We_ _'ve been stuck in the regular queue at the border crossing for an hour._

She didn't even have time to reply before another message came in.

 _Luke_ _'s about to jump out of his skin. He could use some tips on lying. Or at least looking less guilty._

She laughed, picturing the other boy's face. _I can imagine. Is it his puppy-peed-on-the-rug look?_

 _Yeah. You listening in?_

She put on her earphones, pulled up the feed from the bug she'd planted in Troy's car, and started listening. _Now I am_.

" _Logan, I swear to god, if you hurl on the leather, you're paying for it to be detailed cause my dad will flip."_

She could hear Logan dry-heaving in the background. _You okay?_ she texted. She couldn't make out if he was acting or actually drunk.

 _I may have turned to liquid therapy. But I_ _'m not as bad as I sound._

" _Who are you texting anyway?_ _"_

"DK wants to know what he missed."

" _Tell him nothing but Luke buying that lame-ass piñata and you getting lovesick over Veronica freaking Mars—let me tell you, that's not an ass you're tapping anytime soon. Bitch is frigid."_

" _Watch it."_ There was venom in Logan's tone. Veronica was tempted to remind him to tone it down, but she sighed and just kept listening.

" _I know, I know, I'm not allowed to badmouth Little Miss Perfect."_

" _Well, Veronica's pretty badass. She does martial arts, you know? Some of the guys mentioned it. Plus she's taking cases just like her dad. She helped some chick find her dog just last week. And I hear she was the secret informant on that dognapping ring the cops busted."_ That was Luke. Veronica was surprised he was so dialed into the goings on at Neptune High. She'd felt sorry for a classmate and helped her find her dog, which had turned out to have been dognapped by some of the guys who worked at the pound.

" _I get it. She's a regular Nancy Drew. So what?"_

" _Just saying you don't wanna be on that girl's bad side, man,"_ Luke said. _"Especially since she's back to being friends with Logan and Lilly."_

" _Heard,"_ Logan muttered, then continued to dry heave.

" _Dude, get a hold of yourself. Don't be such a fucking lightweight."_

" _To be fair, he drank more than either of us did."_

" _Fuck fair. He just better not puke in my dad's car."_

Veronica could make out muffled sounds from the outside.

" _No, no thank you,"_ Troy could be heard saying. Vendors, maybe?

" _These border checkpoints, man, they always freak me out."_ Luke sounded really, really nervous. And well he should be.

" _Maybe you shouldn't volunteer for the full cavity search."_ Veronica rolled her eyes. Of course Logan would snark even when drunk.

" _Morning."_ The greeting was terse, official-sounding. They must have reached the checkpoint.

" _Morning, sir,"_ Troy said, all chipper and innocent.

" _You, uh, fellas have a good time in Mexico?"_

" _Yes, sir."_

" _Wanna go ahead and hand over your contraband?"_ Veronica chuckled at the officer's attitude as the silence in the car grew tense. _"It works sometimes. Pop the trunk."_

Luke sighed loudly enough to be picked up by the bug when the officer checked the trunk then presumably waved them through.

After a while, Troy asked, " _Anybody else hungry?_ "

" _Sure,"_ Luke said. " _And Logan could probably use a break._ _"_

" _Yeah._ " The disgust was plain in Troy's voice. _"I know a diner not too far from here."_

Miles away, Veronica smiled. _Gotcha_ , she thought.

* * *

After that, things moved pretty quickly, at least on Veronica's end. The boys went into the diner for some late-night chow, and not long after, Weevil texted that the package and the car were in his possession. He confirmed that the piñata in the backseat contained no steroids and was instead filled with candies. He asked if Veronica wanted it, because if she didn't, one of the guys at his uncle's shop wanted it for his daughter's birthday party.

 _Tell him to take it, and happy birthday to his kid,_ she texted him. _Your uncle have a problem with taking the car?_

 _You kidding? It_ _'s a BMW 740i. He'll make big bucks from parts, your boy Troy's looking to downgrade to something 'nondescript.'_

She took that to mean the car would be a medium-range sedan far below the value of the Beemer. She made a note to cover for Weevil if Lamb asked where Troy's father's car had gone. She trusted they knew their business enough to deactivate the Beacon system, or at least toss the device someplace far, far away.

Shortly after that, her phone rang. It was Logan.

" _Ah, hey, Ronnie, did I wake you?"_ She could tell from the ambient noise he had her on speaker phone.

"Logan? It's… what? Four in the morning?" she grumbled with faux crankiness, hoping she sounded properly sleepy.

" _Just about._ "

"What do you think, Echolls?"

" _Listen, I need a favor."_

"What could you possibly need from me at 4AM? Aren't you in Mexico or something?"

" _Yeah… About that. We decided to head back tonight and ran into some trouble. We stopped at a diner and when we came out, Troy's car had been stolen."_

"What?"

" _You heard me. So can you come pick us up? I'd rather not call DK. You know how Celeste gets."_

"Fine. But you'll owe me one, Echolls."

" _You know I'm good for it."_

She got the details from him (as if she didn't know them already), then dressed and headed out. She made good time on the highway and rolled into the parking lot where the three boys were sitting on the curb.

She stopped her car in front of them and rolled down her window. "Dude! Where's your car?" Troy scowled at her, and she bared her teeth at him before obviously faking a guileless look. "Too soon?"

"Thanks for coming to get us, Veronica," Logan said, smiling tiredly.

"Your monkeys are gonna have to ride in the back."

Logan gestured for them to climb into the back seat before getting into the front passenger seat himself. She passed him one of the Gatorade bottles she'd brought with her, and he took it gratefully.

Troy got in behind him, really doing up the doom and gloom. She would've fallen for it if the Fab Four weren't better actors than he was. Or, well, if Lilly, Logan and she weren't better actors than she was; Duncan was admittedly kind of crappy at disguising one emotion for another.

Finally Luke climbed in behind Veronica. "Thanks for picking us up, Veronica."

"Yeah, well. You're lucky I'm such a nice person."

Troy snorted at that, making Logan turn in his seat to glare at him. "What the hell is your problem, man?"

"A nice person wouldn't make fun of a guy whose life is on the line," Troy said after a moment. He'd obviously had to choke down harsher words after remembering whose car he was sitting in.

Veronica rolled her eyes. "Oh please. Ride a bike or something. It won't kill you, and it's good for the environment."

"I don't know. Outdoor activities might actually kill me, in Albuquerque."

She feigned a look of confusion. "Huh?"

"My dad is going to send me away, he's going to track me down and he's going to kill me. He's out of town right now and thinks the car is still safely tucked in the garage."

"If the cops find it before he gets home, you can always run with the no-harm-no-foul approach?"

"That assumes the cops would even be looking for it. It's-it's probably on a cargo ship to Jamaica right now, anyway."

She fought the urge to smirk and schooled her face into an expression that hopefully conveyed curiosity. "Why wouldn't the cops be looking for it?"

"Like I said, my dad doesn't even know it's gone. If I report the car stolen, the first thing the cops will do is contact him about it. So going to the cops is out of the question. And without a police report, I can't get the anti-theft homing device activated."

"He's gonna have to come home sometime, though. Might as well get it over with while there's a chance the car can be recovered. Leave it too long, and you might find pieces of it, if that."

"Then I might as well roll over and prepare to die—or rather get sent to Catholic school in Albuquerque like he's been threatening."

Logan started to snort but managed to turn it into a cough. "Harsh, man."

"Tell me about it."

Veronica might have believed his woebegone tone and expression if she hadn't heard him plotting to ride into the sunset with a bag of steroids and his girlfriend Shauna not too long ago. She looked over at Luke via the rear view mirror. The poor guy was pasty white; he looked like he was about to hyperventilate or something. It solidified her anger against Troy, not that she agreed with Luke's drug running, but she'd found out a thing or two about Hank Zigman and his methods of persuasion, so she had a modicum of sympathy for the boy.

She'd initially planned to just bring Lamb into it when Troy made his getaway then pay Zigman back his "investment"—as well as pay him a visit to make sure he laid off Luke—before sending his mug shot to border patrol, but now she decided she wanted Troy to suffer a little.

"You know," she said slowly, "there are ways to find a stolen vehicle without going through the police. Hypothetically speaking."

She watched Luke snap out of the daze he was in, saw Troy narrow his eyes at her. _Three, two, one_.

"So, Veronica," Luke said. "Hypothetically speaking, what would you do to find Troy's car?"

She shrugged nonchalantly. "Ah, tricks of the trade, my friend. There are some databases you can access to track stolen goods—I learned to work some of them interning at my dad's company. A little finagling and wheel-greasing might convince the Beacon folks to turn on the GPS on the car if Troy can find his dad's paperwork citing the Beemer's VIN number. That sort of thing."

"Is this a rescue or is this you holding us captive so you can advertise that little PI business you've got going on?" Logan asked with faux annoyance, his hand over his eyes as if he were hungover. Actually, it was possible he _was_ hungover, if not quite as badly as he was acting. He and Lilly both had a tendency to overindulge when she and Duncan weren't around to rein them in.

"Why can't it be both?"

Luke turned to Troy. "Dude, I have an idea."

The other boy failed to look suitably grateful. "Does it involve a time machine?"

"No, but you could totally ask Veronica for help finding your car. Maybe you can get it back before your dad even finds out what happened to it."

She watched the annoyance flash over Troy's face, then the realization that he would have to appear to grasp at straws, any straws, to really sell people on the idea he was upset about the situation. "You could pay me to look for it, but recovery is never a guarantee, especially with grand theft auto."

"Still, it wouldn't hurt to try. I mean, what do you have to lose?" Luke was drenched in the desperation Troy struggled to convey. Veronica was tempted to roll her eyes at how bad both boys were at acting.

"I appreciate the suggestion, but I think this is even beyond Detective Mars's super powers."

Oh, well, now. She couldn't let a comment like that pass. "You don't know half of the tricks I've got tucked into my utility belt. Besides, haven't you heard? I've got friends in low places."

Logan apparently had decided to put in his two cents' worth. "Just try it, man. Not like you've got a bevy of alternatives here."

Finally, Troy gave in. "Will you do it?"

She shrugged. "I guess I could take a shot at it. I'll do a few searches on my dad's system, make a few phone calls, and see where we can go from there. It's a Sunday, so the earliest we could go to the local Beacon office is tomorrow."

"What's it going to cost me?"

"I suppose I could give you the friend-of-a-friend rate. Five hundred, payable in cash, cashier's cheque or a pre-agreed upon exchange of goods or services."

"Aww, we're not friends?"

She bared her teeth at him, much like a shark might. "What do you think?"

"I'm wounded, I tell you. Wounded!"

"Wounded enough to pack your bags instead of asking me to give it a go?"

He let out a dramatic sigh. "Fine. I need help, Detective Mars."

She nodded. "You do, actually." _In more ways than one_. She watched Luke breathe a sigh of relief, and she figured he would be approaching her at school on Monday, if not sooner.

"Now that that's settled, can you guys shut up so I can sleep the rest of the way to Neptune?"

"Go right ahead, Logan." She fiddled with the radio, put on some easy listening music and hummed along as she drove, ignoring the boys behind her and casting occasional fond glances at the one beside her. Who had definitely indulged because she could tell he actually _had_ fallen asleep.

* * *

Sunday morning traffic meant they made good time, but it was already bright out by the time they got to Neptune. She dropped Troy off first, stopping the car across the street from the wide gates of the 09er McMansion she knew his family was renting.

He climbed out. "Thanks for the ride."

"No problem. Don't forget to text me the details of the Beemer: model, license number, VIN. Plus anything you can remember like what time you last saw the car and whether there was anything unusual about the place you parked it. If you saw anyone nearby."

"Got it." He paused, gave her a shit-eating grin. "Since I'm your client, does this mean you're gonna play nice now?"

"Walk in front of the car, we'll see."

Behind her, Luke let out a laugh. She was glad to see he'd chilled out a little. As Troy crossed in front of her SUV, she revved the engine. When he gave her the finger, she smiled to herself and eased up on the brakes then slammed her foot back down on them after just enough time to let the vehicle jerk forward a couple inches, making Troy jump, let out a yelp, and then curse a blue streak.

Logan moaned, having been woken up by the movement of the car, just in time to hear Troy yell, "Logan, man, your girlfriend's a psycho!"

"She's not my girlfriend," he grumbled back. She thought she was probably the only person who heard the unspoken _yet_ tacked to the end of it.

She barely waited for Troy to get clear before pulling back out onto the road. A few minutes later, they were at Luke's house. But the other boy stayed in the car. She frowned.

"This is your stop, isn't it?"

"Yeah, but…" He looked at the house and then at her and Logan. "Hey, Logan, can I stay in your guest house? I just don't want to wake my parents up this early."

"No can do, dude. Apparently there was some news about my dad and his latest floozy that broke last night. M'house is bound to be surrounded by paps. I was gonna ask Veronica to drop me off at DK's."

"My pleasure," she said. "Guess I might as well bunk in with Lilly and catch some Zs if that's the plan."

"Can I come with?" Luke practically begged.

She shrugged. "You'd better ask Duncan. It's not like Logan or I live there."

"I'm texting him now." He started tapping furiously at the keypad of his phone.

"I'll give you 10 minutes. If he doesn't say yes by then, you're getting out of my car."

"Deal." Finally he flipped the top closed, smiled at her. He was really kind of a puppy dog, if you forgot the whole drug trafficker thing. "Have I told you yet that I'm really glad you guys are all friends again? It was super stressful when you guys were doing the whole Cold War thing."

Logan smirked. "I'm pretty sure a Cold War would've meant non-engagement. Madison got a bong planted in my locker, I got accused of drug possession, and Lilly got dye-bombed. Seemed like all-out warfare to me."

"Please, the drug charges were _not_ on me. I would never be so plebeian. And while I will neither confirm nor deny the others, I'll at least laud their creativity. Just be glad you and Lilly saw the error of your ways," Veronica said.

"Oh I am," Logan assured her. "And I will forever treasure the image of Lilly Kane looking like something someone drew at kindergarten art class."

They both started snickering. Luke smiled. "Yeah, that was a pretty epic prank, Veronica."

She raised her hands. "I plead the fifth."

"Like anyone else would've had a hope in hell of pulling that off," Logan said.

"Six months ago, I would never have believed it of Veronica," Luke admitted.

"Six months ago, I didn't think it would be worth churning up the waters," Veronica said, feeding him the "company" line. "Then I decided I was just as much at fault if I did nothing and just let my best friends act like jackasses."

"Well, I like the new you," Luke said.

"I liked the old you too, but the new you is definitely more my speed." There was an intensity in Logan's voice that had her frowning at him in warning, even though she had to fight the urge to blush.

She was spared having to answer by the bleeping of Luke's phone. He snapped it open. "Duncan says I can come over!"

She started the car. "Well then, let's get this show on the road. I gotta go pay off my sleep debt, thanks to you suckers."

* * *

AUTHOR'S NOTE: A bit of a weightier, if talkier, chapter here. And, hey, I posted on time for once! Thanks as ever to the awesomeness that is Irma66 for beta reading!


	26. I Know You, You Know Me

**Chapter 26: I Know You, You Know Me**

* * *

SUMMARY: A chat with the Kanes, and then the sheriff. And then…Conner Larkin?

* * *

When Veronica pulled up to the gate of the Kane estate, Logan leaned out to the guard post to key in his code. They each had been given one after they'd started hanging out together after that fateful night two years before. The Kanes' main security guy, Clarence Weidman, had decided that the Fab Four's frequent comings and goings meant it was too much trouble to have the household keep letting them in.

Not that the pass codes were too hard to guess; each button let out a different tone when pressed—something Keith would be livid about if he ever found out his daughter spent so much time in a home he wouldn't have considered secure.

Jake Kane, out of some misplaced jealousy of Keith for being the man to marry Lianne Reynolds, and never mind that the Kanes had been married before the Marses were, had been one of the only prominent 09ers not to take advantage of Keith's good-neighbor policy in consulting on security systems. It always made Veronica want to roll her eyes whenever she passed the Kane gates.

Veronica parked in her usual spot and started to head into the mansion before realizing that Logan seemed incapable of or uninterested in walking in a straight line. Studying his face, she realized he'd gone from most-of-the-way drunk to grumpily hungover and sleepy. So she backtracked and got on one side of him, pulling one of his arms around her shoulders and wrapping her own around his waist. He immediately adopted the posture of an overcooked noodle, causing Veronica to stumble a bit.

"Logan!"

"You're so soft and cuddly, Ronnie," he said, his voice filled with all the awe of a four-year-old on Christmas morning, and then proceeded to encircle her with both arms and pull her into a tight hug. "Like my own little fuzzy bobcat."

She staggered under his weight, and a chuckle from behind her reminded her that she didn't have to suffer alone. "Luke! Stop laughing and help me out here."

"I don't know, Veronica, seems like Logan wouldn't appreciate my help right now."

She rolled her eyes as Logan hummed and started petting her head. She wasn't too surprised by this turn of events; experience had taught her that while Duncan turned into a goof while drunk and Lilly became even more vivacious, alcohol tended to unleash Logan's inner cuddle monster. He became melancholy when left alone, but very, very touchy-feely when in company. In fact, she and Duncan had saved him from many a drunken hookup because of this. How much of that was being a good friend and how much was her own possessiveness coming to the fore, she preferred not to examine.

"Logan, let's get you to Duncan's room, shall we?"

"Ugh, why would I wanna cuddle with the Donut when you're here?"

"I gotta admit, Veronica, I'm with him on that one." Luke smirked a little when she just glared at him, but he obligingly helped her pry one of Logan's arms off of her, taking it so they could both walk him into the Kane house.

Normally, Logan and Veronica just walked in with no niceties necessary, but with Luke there, they took the time to ring the bell. And it was just their luck that Celeste Kane was the one to let them in.

"Logan and Veronica. Why am I not surprised to find you both looking like juvenile detention rejects on my doorstep this morning?"

"I told them to come over, Mom," Duncan said, coming up behind her. He smiled and moved forward to take Veronica's place supporting Logan. "Dad said it was fine."

"Of course he did." Celeste turned on her heel, though not quick enough to hide her sneer of contempt, then went back into the house.

Veronica might have made a snarky comment at that, but she was busy having to bite back a smile at the petulant moue Logan had shaped his face into now that she'd been freed from his clutches.

"Duuuuuude," he said, sounding an awful lot like Dick Casablancas in that moment. "Not. Cool."

"Huh?" Duncan, of course, was confused.

Logan straightened. "Cock," he said succinctly, and swept an arm downward to indicate himself. "Block." He waved a hand in Duncan's direction.

Luke gave up and just started guffawing. Duncan slapped a hand over his eyes. Veronica let out a huge sigh. "You guys can take care of Mr. Comedy here. I'm gonna go crash in Lilly's room."

She headed for the stairs that would lead her toward the family rooms, but was stopped by Jake. "Veronica," the software billionaire said, his smile too wide and tone too warm as always. "I'm so glad to see you here today."

"I'm just gonna crash in Lilly's room."

"You know you have your own—"

"Luke Haldeman came with Logan and me. I'd rather not have to explain why I have a room in your house, _Mr. Kane_." She was very familiar now with the acrid taste of his name in her mouth. The older man had tried to get her to call him Dad or even Jake once he'd learned she knew the truth, but she'd never unbent enough to allow it.

So as not to make herself a liar, she slipped into Lilly's room, borrowed a shirt and a pair of sleep shorts from the other girl's closet, washed her face, brushed her teeth, then flopped into bed.

"Mmm, whatchadoin' Ronica?" Lilly murmured.

"Getting some shuteye before moving on to the next phase of Troy Vandegraff's comeuppance," she mumbled back.

"Mmmkay." Lilly promptly rolled over and latched onto Veronica like a spider monkey. Obviously Logan was not the only one who was feeling clingy this morning. Veronica gave a moment's thought to wriggling out of her sister's hug-prison, then decided it wasn't worth the effort and snuggled in.

"Wake me up in a couple hours."

"Kay."

The next thing she knew, she was out like a light.

* * *

Of course, a Lilly Kane wakeup call was nothing so gentle as a few words or even a shake of the shoulder. Veronica found herself scrambling to stay in bed when her best friend woke her by unceremoniously leaping onto the bed, making her bounce up off the mattress.

"Lilly!" she shrieked.

"Ronica!" Lilly was disgustingly cheerful. "Good morning!"

"Ungh." She burrowed into the pillows and blankets.

"Ronica, don't make me wake you up with tickle torture."

She sat up. "Lilly, you're the worst."

"Aww, you know you love me."

Green eyes sparkled at her; Lilly had widened them to an almost comical degree. Veronica smiled. "Get those puppy eyes away from me. I concede defeat—I am awake, and yes, I love you in spite of the fact that you have no right to be this cheerful on a Sunday morning."

"It's your fault, you know! I woke up all warm and snuggly with my favoritest person in the world!"

"'Favoritest' isn't even a word, Lil."

"It is now! Why don't you get dressed and we can see what the boys are up to? I'm looking forward to annoying Logan with my perky self."

"As opposed to me?"

"We've already established that you love me."

"It doesn't mean I'm not annoyed."

"Oooh, so grumpy, Ronica!"

"Shut up, Lilly." In a move that combined resignation and self-defense, Veronica got out of bed and headed for the bathroom, stopping to pick up the overnight bag with the change of clothes she'd brought in earlier. Fifteen minutes later and freshly showered, she emerged to find her sister browsing through a magazine. Lilly looked up as she approached, then narrowed her eyes critically, indicating with the twirl of a finger that Veronica should do a spin. She did. "Well?"

"I definitely approve of your bubblegum badass aesthetic," Lilly said, gesturing toward Veronica's outfit. She was wearing a black jeans skirt, a white collared short-sleeve shirt, a black-and-white argyle knit vest, and chunky calf-high boots she'd left in her room the last time she'd been here, when she'd added some items from her new look to her closet. She'd tied her hair in pigtails. "It's missing something, though."

"What?"

"It'll come to me. For now, let's go!"

"Go where? I've got stuff to do today—"

"Oh, shush! I'm going to feed you! I've already called down to the kitchen to ask for waffles. I've told the Donut to bring the guys downstairs for breakfast too."

"Mmm. Yes, I guess I do love you after all."

Lilly grinned. "Of course you do, darling. Doesn't everybody?"

The two girls headed into the dining room, where they found Duncan sipping from a glass of OJ and staring at his phone like it held the secrets of the universe while Luke tucked into his food with nervous gusto and Logan blinked blearily at the plate in front of him.

"Morning, boys," Lilly chirped.

"Good morning," Duncan said, smiling at his sisters before staring at his phone again.

"Morning," Luke said between bites of his waffle.

"Shut the fuck up," Logan said grumpily.

"Aww, there's that legendary Echolls charm," Lilly teased.

"It's too early for this," was all Logan said in reply.

"Amen to that," Veronica said. But she happily tucked into the waffles, making noncommittal noises when Lilly tried to talk her into going shopping today. "Sorry, Lils. Got stuff to do, people to see. You know how it is."

"It's Sunday!"

"Exactly. Last free day before Monday, which is a school day." The Kanes' cook set a cup of coffee down in front of her. She smiled in gratitude. "Thanks, Mrs. Toombs."

"No problem, Veronica," the older woman replied with a smile before retreating into the kitchen.

"Ronica!"

"Lilly!"

"Just give up already, Lils," Logan grumbled. "You should know better than to argue with Veronica by now."

The green-eyed blond huffed. "God, Logan, you're so whipped."

He smirked at that. "And you're not?"

"Now, now, children," Veronica said in her best schoolmarm tones. "Play nice."

"Thank you," Duncan said, not looking up from the phone.

"What's on your phone that has you so riveted by it anyway?" Logan asked.

Lilly reached over and snatched said device from her brother's hand, making him squawk indignantly. "Ooh, you're sexting Saint Meg, Donut?!"

"I am not! Give that back!" He tried to grab it, but she kept it out of reach, thumbs flying as she checked his messages. Then her face fell.

"Little brother, you've got to have more game than talking to her about some biology paper." Her face showed utter disgust.

"Give it back, Lilly," Duncan seethed.

She smiled, catlike. "Want me to flirt for you? I'll be your Cinnamon de Bordeaux, except without the ugly nose. She'll be macking on you in no time."

Logan pinched the bridge of his nose. "For god's sake, Lilly. Cyrano de Bergerac."

"You say potayto, I say potahto, ex-boyfie."

"You know what? I'm not going to even bother. I should probably be impressed you even remembered enough of the plot to make the reference."

"Whatever, nerd."

"Please, insult me by calling me intelligent."

"Please, pretend reading old books makes you cool."

Logan opened his mouth to retort, but Veronica held up a finger. "Quit squabbling, guys. Lilly, give Duncan back his phone. He'll woo Meg however he likes, and we will support him. Logan, stop needling her."

"Fine," Logan and Lilly chorused at the same time Duncan said, "Thanks."

Luke dropped his fork. "Woah. Since when did you get all hot and bossy, Veronica?"

Logan and Duncan turned to glare at him, while Lilly smirked. "She's always been hot and bossy, haven't you, Ronica?"

Veronica just rolled her eyes. "Eat up, Logan and Luke, or you're walking home today."

"I'm done," Logan said, pushing his plate away, half a waffle still on it.

She shook her head at him in disappointment. "You're going to waste half a waffle?"

He nudged his plate closer to her empty one. "By all means, take it."

"Thanks." She traded her empty plate for his and dug in.

"You're the only person I know who can eat carbs like that and not lose her bikini bod at all," Lilly said. It wasn't the first time she'd made the observation, but she never lost that combination of amazement and humor in the several times she'd noted Veronica's appetite.

"Metabolizing is like her super power," Logan agreed.

"Shut up, you two," Veronica grumbled, polishing off the last of Logan's waffle and then washing it down with the rest of her coffee.

When Logan and Lilly promptly did so, Luke gaped. "You know, I think _that_ might be your super power." Veronica just arched an eyebrow at him. "You just told Logan _and_ Lilly to shut up, and they did. Even Duncan can't do that."

"Duncan knows better than to try," her brother said dryly, typing something on his phone.

"Duncan should know better than to speak in the third person," Veronica snarked back, mimicking his tone.

He looked up from his phone, toasted her with his orange juice, took a drink, and then set the glass down before returning to his texting.

She stood. "I'm gonna grab my stuff. Logan? Luke? You riding with me?"

"I, uh, think I'll stay here a while, if it's okay with you, Duncan," Luke said. "I, uh, just remembered my mom has some kind of brunch planned, and I'm not in the mood to play 'golden son' today."

She remembered his dad was a congressman, and his mom was really into the whole society wife thing. "I don't blame you."

"Pretty sure Mom's going to that," Duncan said.

"Of _course_ Celeste is going to that." Lilly's eyes should've made skittering sounds from how hard they were rolling. Then she shrugged. "Oh well, at least that means she can't spend the afternoon harping on me."

"Always good to look on the bright side of things," Veronica agreed. "Logan? You coming? I've just gotta grab my stuff from Lilly's room."

"Yep." He popped the P. "I'll see you out by your car."

"I'll go with you, Ronica," Lilly said, bouncing up. "I figured out what your outfit needs."

"Looks fine to me," Duncan said, still not looking up from his phone.

"Looks _great_ ," Logan corrected.

"You turn those heart-shaped eyes normal-shaped, ex-boyfie," Lilly teased. "Or people will think you're rebounding on Ronica here."

"Rebound?" he scoffed. "If anything, Veronica would be an upgrade."

"Whatever," Duncan said, finally looking up. "Keep your hands and your heart eyes to yourself."

"Fine," Logan said. But he gave Veronica a look she had no problem interpreting. _For now_ , his eyes promised.

 _Not now._ She glared back at him and crossed her arms. "I'm right here, guys. I can speak for myself." _And we're not alone_ , she said, darting her gaze toward Luke before frowning at Duncan and Logan in turn.

"Of course you can, Ronica," Lilly said hastily, taking her arm and propelling her out of the dining room. "But you've got things to do, people to see, right? And I've got the perfect thing to top off your ensemble—literally!"

She let her sister and best friend pull her toward the large walk-in closet that only just barely managed to house Lilly's overabundant wardrobe. Which was saying a lot, considering the wardrobe was easily the size of a small bedroom, complete with a sofa and movie star-style dresser. Once inside, Lilly hugged Veronica and squealed. "Did you see those eyes? That boy wants to eat you _up_!"

Veronica let herself smile at the other girl's enthusiasm. "Be that as it may, a relationship doesn't fit our current narrative just yet."

" _Yet_! You said 'yet'!" Lilly beamed at her. "I can't wait for 'yet'!"

She rolled her eyes. "Well, you'll have to. In the meantime, what is the all-important outfit-topper you said you had for me?"

"Oh!" Lilly turned, skipped over to the side of the wardrobe Veronica knew held her various accessories, pulled out a drawer, peered at its contents for a bit, and selected an item. She skipped back over to Veronica and plopped the gray cabby hat with a black braided leather cord atop her head. "Perfect!"

Veronica gazed at herself in the mirror. It did complement the look. "Thanks, Lil. It definitely is perfect."

"Of course," Lilly said, making a show of buffing her nails on her sleeve and blowing on them. "Which is why I still don't understand why you took Meg Manning shopping instead of me! Twice now!"

She laughed. "I'll make it up to you now that we're publicly friends again, okay?"

"You'd better!"

"Pinky promise." She held the finger in question up, and Lilly was quick to link it with her own. "Well, now that I'm properly outfitted, I'm gonna head out. I need to get to Lamb's to work out his part in the downfall of Troy Vandegraff."

"Ooh, you know I love it when you're all vengeful."

"He doesn't care that Luke's terrified of getting his butt whupped by a Hulk Hogan wannabe," Veronica said flatly. She'd looked up Hank Zigman on her dad's database. She was under no illusions as to what had Luke looking so pale when she'd picked the guys up. "Plus he made fun of my detective skills."

"Well, we can't have that."

"No, we can't." Veronica smirked. "So I'm off." She hugged her sister and retrieved her bag phone and bag from where she'd left them that morning. "Thanks for letting me crash."

"No problem, Ronica. Do it for the whole weekend next time."

"Next time," she agreed, then went out to meet Logan.

Who was leaning against her car in a pose that should've looked way too contrived if done by anyone else. Logan made it look natural. And _so_ hot. Maybe leaning was _his_ super power. Veronica swallowed, sure if she hadn't, she would've been drooling.

"Ready to go?" she asked as she approached, feeling his eyes on her.

"Sure," he said.

"Did you want to come to Lamb's with me, or should I drop you off at home first?"

"I'll go with you. I can help you sell the story to Lamb."

"Cool," she said. "Hold on." His eyebrows arched when she opened the back of her Jeep and pulled a few shopping bags she'd left there. "Got these for you."

"You only owed me one shirt," he reminded her.

"Yeah, well. Meg and your mom thought there was way too much orange in your wardrobe too. Even Conner was appalled by your color choices."

It was true. They'd had fun picking out clothes for him, in fact. They'd gotten him a few fitted hoodies and Henleys in several colors—Veronica knew he liked longer sleeves as a way to cover up the damage Aaron did, but even Meg had marked this preference, though she didn't know the cause. Veronica hadn't missed the look of guilt in Lynn's eyes when the other blonde had casually remarked on it.

She'd also been a little discomfited by Meg's teasing her about picking clothes that would show off Logan's "toned surfer bod" better than the stuff he usually wore. Who knew Meg spent time looking below the neck? And at Logan? She'd been amused and appalled at the unexpected surge of jealousy.

He smiled. "Thanks, Veronica. For the shirts and for spending time with my mom."

She flushed. "No problem. Plus, like I said, we had fun."

"I'm glad. And grateful."

"Just wear them one of them for me on a day when you feel your hand reaching toward something orange."

He grinned at her shyly, and she told herself the flutter in her stomach was from too many waffles rather than the soft look in his eyes. "I can do that."

"I hope you'll think of me and these choices I've made the next time you go shopping. And when I say 'think of me,' I don't mean my love of Skist."

He laughed, his eyes still velvety-looking. "You don't have to remind me to think of you at random moments, Veronica. That's pretty much my default, if you don't already know that."

She saved herself from having to reply by heading over to the driver's side door and climbing in. He took the hint and climbed into the passenger seat, but his face never lost that little smile of his.

As they drove to Lamb's house, stopping for pastries and coffee on the way, Veronica turned the conversation to the main task she had to accomplish today—reading Lamb in on their plans just enough so he'd help with the Troy situation. They discussed the plan and the story they would tell the sheriff.

"The story's more believable because Luke's part of your posse, now that I think of it," Veronica said when they parked in front of Lamb's bungalow.

"You mean, I'm not a superfluous prop for your scheming?" Logan teased.

"Nah. Guess I like having you around."

Logan steepled his fingers, drumming them together like a cartoon villain. "Excellent," he drawled in a high-pitched, nasally tone. "My efforts are paying off nicely."

She rolled her eyes, but let herself laugh at his antics as she threw the door open and climbed out of the car. "Well, come on then. Let's get to work."

* * *

The pastries and coffee were received with much more enthusiasm than the story they were peddling. Lamb had answered the door unshaven and in pajama pants and a well-worn Hearst College t-shirt, and he'd grumpily invited them in to talk business.

"So let me get this straight," the sheriff said with a glare over his kitchen table. "You and two of your knucklehead friends went to TJ over the weekend. You've since learned that Dumbass No. 1 bought drugs and smuggled them across the border, but you're pretty sure it was under duress from a local dealer. Dumbass No. 2 may or may not have stolen said drugs, along with his father's car, with plans of selling them and running away into the sunset with his junkie girlfriend."

"More or less," Logan said, shrugging.

"And why am I not arresting them both? It's a simple matter of checking Border Patrol records to see who you were with."

"First off," Veronica said, cutting in evenly, "we don't have proof Dumbass No. 2 is anything but a victim of grand theft auto at this time—"

"Or that your friends in the PCHers had anything to do with it."

Veronica gave him wide eyes and raised eyebrows. "I have no idea what you're talking about, Donnie."

"Right." The sheriff just smirked at her, though the effect was ruined by the powdered sugar clinging to the scruff by his mouth.

"Anyway, as I was saying, we have no proof of Dumbass No. 2's wrongdoing. Second, both guys have prominent parents who would need you to have unassailable evidence their kids have done what we say they've done, or they can make problems for you come election time. And, third, Dumbass No. 1 is more of a chump than an evildoer, so wouldn't you rather catch the guy forcing kids to do his trafficking for him?"

Lamb grimaced in a way that told her she'd made her point. "Okay, Veronica, I'm listening."

She bit down on the urge to smile triumphantly. "Here's what I've got."

She outlined the key elements of her plan—or at least the elements she was comfortable letting Lamb know about.

She told the sheriff about the drugs, which Logan suspected had been hidden somewhere in the bathroom, as Troy had made a show of spilling a drink on himself early on and needing to get a change of clothes from the car while Logan and Luke ordered their late-night munchies at the diner. "Don't forget to check inside the toilet tanks or maybe even the ceiling vents or something."

Lamb frowned. "Watch it, kid. This isn't my first rodeo."

She shrugged and smiled at him sunnily. "Of course not, Donnie. Just trying to be helpful."

"I'll bet. Let me tell you, I don't envy your dad one bit. He might be one of the rich and famous, but he's still gotta deal with you."

"I try to give him plausible deniability when I can."

"Huh. You keep right on believing your old man doesn't know exactly what you get up to, missy."

She frowned. "What do you mean?"

"You're a smart cookie. I'm sure you can figure it out. So you want me to confiscate the evidence."

"Yep. I was thinking you might wanna replace it with something fake, add a tracker or something to the mix, then pick him up when he thinks he's gotten away scot-free. At least then we'll know he's actually guilty."

"I guess I could do that. Still, from what you tell me, he's small fry. What about the big fish?"

"Logan and I have a plan to make it so Dumbass No. 1 gets out from under the guy who's pressuring him to make a buy. Now, assuming he needs to resupply his product in a timely fashion and there isn't anyone else he can send to buy his stuff, he'll probably need to hit the border himself. I'll be able to send you his details for you to send to the guys at Border Patrol after he's left but before he gets back, to ensure he's caught with the goods on him. Then you can just sit back, relax, and wait for them to gift wrap him for you."

Lamb shook his head. "Sometimes I'm not sure if I should be impressed or scared by you."

"Both," Logan assured him. "You can be both."

"Like you are?"

"I am but a loyal minion."

Lamb rolled his eyes. "I'm beginning to think she sees all of us that way."

"I only use my powers for good," Veronica said primly.

"You'd better, young lady!"

She raised an eyebrow. "Or what?"

"Or I'm telling your father!"

* * *

"So that was fun," Logan said as they left the sheriff's house.

"You have a pretty low threshold for fun," she said, smiling.

"Let me take you to lunch and prove you wrong."

"Well, you know the way to my heart is through my stomach."

"Veronica, _everyone_ knows that."

She laughed. Just before they got to her Jeep, her phone rang. She pulled it out and checked the caller ID. It was from an unknown number.

"Hello?"

" _Hi, is this Veronica? Veronica Mars?_ " The voice on the other end of the line sounded familiar, but she couldn't quite place it.

"Yes, this is she."

" _This is Conner Larkin. Ah, Lynn Echolls' friend? We met yesterday?"_

Her eyebrows shot up. "Conner Larkin?" she repeated, more for Logan's sake than out of any doubt. The moment he'd said his name, she'd recognized the voice. Logan scowled. "How can I help you?"

" _Ah, Aaron Echolls mentioned your dad's a friend of his and runs a private investigations and security company._ "

"I wouldn't exactly call them friends," she said, choosing her words carefully. "We all live in the same neighborhood. So more… friendly, I'd guess you'd say?"

" _That's great!"_

The enthusiasm in his voice surprised her. "Uh, is it?" Then she had a thought, and decided to throw the guy a line in case her suspicions panned out. "He's probably friendlier with Mrs. Echolls than he is with Mr. Echolls, though. Mr. Echolls isn't around too often." _And Dad thinks he's an asshole. Scratch that—Dad_ knows _Aaron Echolls is a grade-A bastard._

" _Better and better,"_ Conner said.

"Why's that?" Veronica asked, done with beating around the bush.

Logan was gesturing at her, obviously trying to find out what was going on, but she waved him off, mouthed _later_ at him, so he crossed his arms and waited, a sulky pout on his face. She tried not to think about biting that lip he was sticking out so petulantly.

" _Do you think your dad would be open to taking a new case? I'd need him to be really discreet."_

"For you? I could ask."

" _Uh, sort of? I mean, yeah, I'd definitely pay for it. But the case isn't for me, per se, if you get my meaning."_

She frowned. "No, I don't get your meaning."

Conner sighed. _"Look, Veronica, can I be square with you? And can I trust you won't tell your friends about this?"_

Curiouser and curiouser. "I'm very good at keeping secrets," Veronica said.

" _Thanks."_ He didn't seem to notice she hadn't promised anything. Tsk, tsk. For Hollywood boy, he had a lot to learn. Still, what he said next had her straightening up and paying attention. _"I'm sure you noticed my asshole of a co-star and my other co-star who really should know better than to sleep with a married man weren't exactly being subtle about their plans for yesterday. I saw how you looked at Aaron when he mentioned that 'meeting' I wasn't a part of."_

So much for her famous poker face. But what he was saying was _very_ interesting. She looked up at Logan's face, which was half tense and half crazed—she could tell he really wanted to know what was going on. She wondered if this phone call might give them a way to push their plans for Aaron Echolls forward, and she ruthlessly tamped down on the urge to vibrate with excitement at the thought. "If I say I don't know what you mean, but I don't really mean it, can we leave it at that?"

" _Yeah."_ He chuckled, but there was no humor in the sound. _"You're good. I hope that means your dad is better, if I'm gonna hire him."_

"My dad's the best." She paused. "Do you want me to help you get a meeting with him? I can put it on the books for you."

" _Yes, I mean, no."_ Now it was Conner's turn to pause. _"Look, I'd like to hire him, but I don't want anyone to know I did, so it needs to be off the books. I'm not even sure I can actually be the one to hire him, but I'd like to try. But he'd need to be discreet."_

"MIS is all about discretion."

" _Yeah. Uh, I asked around, and that's why I decided to call. I asked Lynn for your number. She knows I'm calling, but she thinks it's because I need some help with a stalker ex-hookup."_

"And you don't have a stalker."

He huffed out a laugh at that. _"I'm a celebrity. Of course I've got stalkers. They're called paparazzi. But no, no stalker exes. I want to hire your dad to look into Aaron Echolls. I know he's cheating on Lynn, and I want her to have proof, if she needs it. I know damn well she's depressed and is drinking too much, and he's to blame for all of it."_

Screw her poker face. Veronica allowed herself the luxury of a brilliant smile at his words, which widened when seeing it only made Logan frown harder. "I'm pretty sure I could get you a meeting with my dad for that, Conner. Can I get back to you on the time and place? I'll have to clear it with him when I see him tonight, since you want this off the books."

" _Great! And yeah, sure, just let me know when and where. You can get ahold of me at this number."_

"I'll save it now," she promised.

" _Thanks."_

"My pleasure." He had no idea how true those words were.

" _No, really, seriously, thank you."_

"No, Conner," she said, and she let some sincerity show through in her voice, "thank _you_."

The moment she hung up, she saved his number like she'd said she would.

"Veronica—"

She held up a finger at Logan's annoyed voice. Then she texted her dad. _Got a case for you, but not official. You'll want to take it though. Talk to you later?_ She hit send, then turned to Logan and smiled.

"You're definitely gonna wanna buy me lunch now."

"Will you tell me what that was about? Why the hell is Conner Larkin calling you? What does it have to do with my parents?"

"Let's buy takeout," she said. "And I'll tell you over lunch. Then we can call Duncan and Lilly and organize an emergency meeting at my place this afternoon."

Logan scowled. "It's that bad?"

She beamed at him, then put a hand on his arm. "If it works out the way I'm hoping? No, it's that good."

* * *

AUTHOR'S NOTE: Sorry for the late post! Sadly, I'm probably going to have to keep my posting commitment on this story to about twice a month, as I've been struggling with Veronica positivity lately. I still haven't seen season 4, but I've been spoiled and am debating whether I even want to watch it. Am hoping reading/rereading fave fanfics and working on some other WIPs will re-ignite the fervor. Still, rest assured that I haven't abandoned this!

Also, some thanks are in order. Thank you to Irma66 as always for beta awesomeness and encouragement! And this update was brought to you by a metric ton of Skittles, Kinder Bueno, and caffeine. And also a certain someone's voice in my head telling me to leave the fluffy/snarky bits in, even if they didn't do anything to drive the plot forward.


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